The Venom was a development of the Vampire, designed to accommodate the de Havilland Ghost engine and with aerodynamic refinements enabling it to take full advantage of the increased power. The nacelle and tail assembly were substantially similar to those of the Vampire, but the wings were entirely new, with square tips, very thin section and jettisonable long-range wingtip tanks. Fences were incorporated into the top surface of the wings to direct airflow, and wingtip fuel tanks were fitted as standard.
Originally designated the Vampire FB Mk.8, the Venom FB.1 was the first version for the RAF: a day fighter and fighter-bomber with provision for bombs and rockets in addition to the standard four 20 mm Hispano Mk 5 cannon in the nose. The prototype of this version flew for the first time on 2 September 1949 and entered squadron service in September 1952. A total of 373 FB.1 were built, powered by one de Havilland Ghost 103 turbojet of 4850 lbs thrust.
DH Venom FB.1
Built by the Swiss under licence in the early 1950s, the FB.Mk.1 designated by the Swiss Flugwaffe as the FB.Mk.50.
Fences were incorporated into the top surface of the wings to direct airflow, and wingtip fuel tanks were fitted as standard. The Venom FB 1 had four Hispano 20mm cannon in the nose and hard points under the wings for up to 2,000lb of bombs or rockets.
Introduced in 1955 was the single seat Venom, the FB. 4 (D.H. Ghost 103), with powered ailerons, an ejection seat and under wing fuel tanks in addition to the tip tanks. These new external tanks have a very high fineness ratio and a minute tailplane for stability. The FB.4 also had completely revised fin outlines, with both the front bullet fairing of the earlier Venoms and the rear bullet fairing of the Sea Venoms.
de Havilland DH112 Venom FB 4
A two-seat night fighting version of the single-seat Venom fighter was evolved in the same way that the Vampire night fighter was derived from the original Vampire, and a company-funded prototype was first flown on 23 August 1950. The front fuselage was lengthened and widened to accom¬modate Al Mk 10 radar and crew of two side-by-side, the remainder of the airframe being basically as Venom 1 and the engine being the 4,850 lb st (2200 kgp) Ghost 104. Ninety similar Venom NF Mk 2s (first flight 4 March 1952) were delivered to the RAF from 1953 onwards, many later being modified to NF Mk 2A standard with revised tail units, including dorsal fins and acorn fairings, and clear-view canopies. Further tail unit changes distinguished the Venom NF Mk 3, first flown on 22 February 1953; 129 were built for the RAF with Al Mk 21 radar, powered ailerons, 5,150 lb st (2338 kgp) Ghost 105 engine and other changes. Sweden’s Flygvapnet bought 62 Venom NF Mk 51s, similar to the NF Mk 2s and powered by Swedish-built Ghost RM 2A engines; they served from 1953 to 1960.
Following the evaluation of a standard RAF Venom NF.Mk 2 night-fighter during the course of 1950, the Royal Navy ordered three fully navalized prototype aircraft to Specification N.107, as the de Havilland Sea Venom NF. (later FAW, for Fighter, all-weather) Mk 20, the first of which made its maiden flight on 19 April 1951. Principal Naval features were a V-type arrester hook, strengthened longer-stroke undercarriage, catapult pick-up points and (from the third prototype onwards) folding wings with tip tanks of revised design.
Subsequent carrier compatibility trials conducted aboard HMS illustrious showed that the type possessed considerable promise, and an initial batch of 50 production Sea Venom NF.Mk 20s was contracted, deliveries getting under way during the mid-1950s. Attaining operational status with No. 890 Squadron aboard HMS Albion in July 1955
Following the NF.Mk 20 was the Sea Venom FAW.Mk 21, which used the more powerful Ghost 104 turbojet engine, Martin-Baker ejection seats and which was also fitted with American APS-57 airborne interception radar. Deliveries of the Sea Venom FAW.Mk 21 began before the Sea Venom NF. Mk 20 became operational, the delivery beginning in May 1955 of what eventually became the most widely used version, a total of 167 being built for service with the Fleet Air Arm.
Sea Venom F.(A.W.)21s – 1956 890 Sqn aerobatic team. Sqn CO Lt.Cmdr P.G.Young, Lt. Anderdon & Commsd. Plt Hilditch.
Production of the Sea Venom was completed with 39 examples of the Sea Venom FAW.Mk 23, which dif-fered mainly by virtue of being pow¬ered by the Ghost 105 turbojet.
Sea Venoms were also operated by the Royal Australian Navy which received 39 NF.53 (similar to F(AW).21) from 27 February 1955. British-operated Venoms and Sea Venoms were withdrawn from operational service in 1962 and 1960 respectively.
Failure of the shipboard fighter requirement issued by the Service Technique Aeronautique in June 1946 (and which had resulted in Aerocentre NC 1080, Arsenal VG 90 and Nord 2200 prototypes being built) led to consideration being given to adoption by the Aeronavale of the Grumman F9F-5 Panther. In January 1951, however, the Ministere de la Marine announced the decision to adopt the de Havilland Sea Venom Mk 20, which was being developed for the Royal Navy as a side-by-side two-seat shipboard all-weather fighter and had yet to enter flight test. Four aircraft were supplied to the SNCASE in knocked down form for assembly as a “pre-series”, the first of these flying on 31 October 1952, and the name Aquilon (North Wind) being adopted. A fifth “pre-series” aircraft and 25 production aircraft employing sub-assemblies provided by Airspeed, the first known as Aquilon 20s and subsequentl aircraft as Aquilon 201s, the first of these flying on 24 March 1954 (The designation Sea Venom NF Mk 52 referred to a version licensed for production by SNCASE). These were powered by the 4,850 lb st / 2200kg Fiat-built de Havilland Ghost 48 Mk 1, armament comprising four 20mm cannon. Non-availability of the intended Thomson AI radar restricted the Aquilon 201s to diurnal operation, the same restriction being imposed on the next 25 aircraft which, delivered as Aquilon 202s, were entirely manufactured in France and differed in having ejection seats, an aft-sliding rather than aft-hinged cockpit canopy and a strengthened undercarriage. A decision was taken to adopt the Westinghouse APQ 65 AI radar, but, without major redesign of the airframe, it was found impossible to fit this equipment in the ejection seat-equipped two-seater. Production therefore continued with the Aquilon 203 single-seater, the last 25 of the 40 production examples of this version being equipped with APQ 65 radar as were the six two-seat Aquilon 204 radar trainers (not fitted with ejection seats) that brought production to an end, the last of these being flown at the beginning of 1958. The Aquilon was flown operationally by Flottilles 11F and 16F, eventually serving in the fighter training role and being phased out during 1964-65.
Sud-Est Aquilon
During 1955-58 sixteen served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
de Havilland DH112 Engine: de Havilland Ghost 103 turbojet, 4850 lbf thrust Length: 31 ft 10 in (9.7 m) Wingspan: 41 ft 8 in (12.7 m) Maximum speed: 640 mph (1030 kph) Range: 1080 miles (1730 km) Service Ceiling: 39,400 ft (12,000 m)
Venom FB.1 / FB.50 Engine: De Havilland Ghost 48 Mk I, 21778 N Length: 32.087 ft / 9.78 m Height: 6.168 ft / 1.88 m Wingspan: 41.732 ft / 12.72 m Wing area: 279.003 sq.ft / 25.92 sq.m Max take off weight: 15655.5 lb / 7100.0 kg Weight empty: 8820.0 lb / 4000.0 kg Max. weight carried: 6835.5 lb / 3100.0 kg Max speed: 640 mph below 20,000 ft. Initial ROC: 7230 fpm. Service ceiling: 39370 ft / 12000 m Wing load : 56.17 lb/sq.ft / 274.0 kg/sq.m Range : 378 nm / 700 km Endurance : 1 h Armament: 4 x 20mm mg, 2000 lbs of bombs or 8 x 60 lb rockets. Range (max): 1075 mile. Crew: 1
Venom FB.4 Engine: one 2336-kg (5,150-tb) thrust de Havilland Ghost 105 turbojet. Maximum speed 961 km/h (597 mph) at sea level Initial climb rate 2204 m (7,230 ft) per minute Service ceiling 14630 m (48,000 ft) Range 1730 kin (1,075 miles). Empty weight 3674 kg (8,100 lb) MTOW: 7180 kg (15,830 lb) Wingspan 12.70 m (41 ft 8 in) Length 10.06 m (33 ft 0 in) Height 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Wing area 25.99 sq.m (279.75 sq ft) Armament: four 20-mm Hispano cannon, 907 kg (2,000 lb) of external stores
Venom NF Mk 3 Engine: DH Ghost 104. Max speeds, 576 mph (927 km/h) at sea level, 555 mph (893 km/h) at 30,000 ft (9145 m) 529 mph above 40,000 ft (12 200 m). Initial climb rate, 6,280 ft/min (31,9 m/sec). Patrol duration, 1.85 hrs. Loaded weight, 14,400 lb (6538 kg). Span, 42 ft 10 in (13,06 m). Length, 36 ft 8 in (11,17 m). Height, 6 ft 6 in (1,98 m). Wing area, 279.75 sq ft (25,99sq.m).
Sea Venom FAW Mk 20 Engine: Ghost 103.
Sea Venom FAW.Mk 21 Engine: one 2245-kg (4,950-lb) thrust de Havilland Ghost 104 turbojet. Maximum speed 1014 km/h (630 mph) at sea level Service ceiling 14995 m (49,200 ft) Range 1609 km (1,000 miles) Maximum take-off 7212 kg (15,900 lb) Wingspan 13.08 m (42 ft 11 in) Length 11.15 m (36 ft 7 in) Height 2.59 m (8 ft 6 in) Wing area 25.99 sq.m (279.75 sq ft). Armament: four 20-mm cannon, 907 kg (2,000 lb) of external ordnance
Sea Venom FAW Mk 22 Engine: de Havilland Ghost 104, 4850 lb Span: 42 ft 10 in (13,06 m). Length: 36 ft 8 in (11,17 m). Height: 8 ft 6¼ in (2,62 m). Wing area: 279.75 sq ft (25.99 sq.m). MTOW: 15,400 lb (6980 kg). Max speeds: 576 mph (926 km/h) at sea level 555 mph (893 km/h) at 30,000 ft (9150 in). Initial climb rate: 5,750 ft/min (29,2 m/sec). Service ceiling: 37,000 ft Patrol duration: 1.73 hrs. Armament: 4 x 20mm cannon
Sea Venom F.A.W. Mk 53 Engine One 5,300lb thrust De Havilland Ghost 105 Wing Span: 42 ft 10 in Length: 36 ft 8 in Height: 8 ft 6.25 in Weight 15,000 (loaded) Initial Rate of Climb: 5,900 ft per minute Ceiling: 40,000 ft Speed: 575 mph Range: 705 miles Armament Guns: 4 x 20 mm (150 rounds per gun) Bombs: 8 x 60lb rockets Crew 2
Aquilon 203 Loaded weight: 5500 kg / 12125 lb Wingspan: 13.07 m / 43 ft 11 in Length: 11.17 m / 37 ft 8 in Height: 2.60 m / 9 ft 6 in Wing area: 26.00 sq.m / 279.86 sq ft Max. speed: 935 km/h / 581 mph Range w/max.fuel: 1557 km / 968 miles
de Havilland considered a radical new design shape for its futuristic DH106 jet airliner. It proposed a highly swept, tailless airliner of 75 0001b all-up weight to the Brabazon Committee, which was investigating the needs of British commercial aviation after the Second World War. This design envisaged an aircraft with wing sweepback of 40 degrees and a thickness/chord ratio at the wing root of eleven per cent. The four de Havilland Ghost engines were to be mounted beneath the wing near the trailing edge. Practical experience was required before this design could be proceeded with, and de Havilland successfully tendered to Specification E18/45 for the construction of two prototype DH108s. The primary purpose in building these aircraft was to provide a half scale representation of the proposed Brabazon 4 tailless civil jet airliner on which could be measured in-flight performance, stability and control and aerodynamic pressures on representative sections of the wing. Following this, less specialised research was to be undertaken to explore the characteristics of the swept wing at all speeds. To facilitate production the DH108 was designed around the complete fuselage nacelle of the Vampire Fl, and two fuselages, TG283 and TG306, were taken from the Vampire production lines at English Electric, Preston, during the autumn of 1945. To these fuselages were added 43 degree swept-back wings of metal construction and a swept fin and rudder. Within seven months, the first of these research aircraft was completed and rolled out at Hatfield for engine runs and taxiing tests on Sunday, April 28, 1946. The first prototype was a low-speed test vehicle with a maximum speed of 451km/h. As Hatfield was still only a grass airfield, the prototype was dismantled and loaded on to two “Queen Marys ” which left by road on May 5 for the emergency RAF airfield at Woodbridge where it began taxiing trials and hops six days later. The wheel brakes overheated and delayed the first flight by Geoffrey de Havilland until May 15 when the DH108 became the first jet aeroplane with swept wings to fly successfully. It was also the first tailless jet aircraft to fly.
The need for horizontal tail surfaces was avoided by the provision of elevons, a combined aileron and elevator control situated on the wing trailing edge in the usual aileron position. The first prototype was powered by a de Havilland Goblin 2 engine of 3 000 lb st and was to be used for low speed research covering the handling and stability of the aircraft. The RAE Farnborough had warned de Havilland of the possibility of dutch rolling or wing drop at low speeds with complete loss of control, from its wind tunnel tests. Therefore anti-spin parachutes were fitted at the wingtips, together with fixed Handley Page slots along the outboard section of the wing leading edge. However, when the aeroplane flew their fears proved unfounded and the aircraft had no trouble flying alongside a Proctor for air-to-air photography. The new prototype returned to Hatfield from Woodbridge on May 19 when it showed its easy manouvrability while being demonstrated over the airfield by Geoffrey de Havilland. This aircraft was joined by the second prototype which made its first flight from Hatfield on August 23, 1946, and was shown publicly for the first time at the SBAC display at Radlett on Friday, September 13. The second prototype differed from the first in having a modified 45 degree swept wing with powered flying controls, automatic slots on the wing leading edge, and the more powerful Goblin 3 engine giving 3300 lb st. This prototype was intended for high-speed research, concentrating on pressure plotting and performance. After only a few weeks of flying the DH108s it was decided that as far as the projected DH106 jetliner was concerned, the tailless layout was uneconomical. The use of ailerons as elevators, with their small lever arm moment from the centre of gravity, limited the effectiveness of the flaps. This meant that for a given wing area and runway length, the take-off and landing weights had to be less than if a normal tailplane and elevator layout were used. The sweepback itself also proved uneconomical at this stage, partly because of the lower maximum lift coefficient and the higher structural weight for a given span. Eliminating the sweepback almost doubled the prospective Atlantic payload with the comparatively low power available. Despite these results the DH108 still had a great deal of valuable research work to do, particularly with respect to high-speed flight. The second prototype appeared a very promising vehicle in this respect and after its Radlett appearance began a concentrated programme of increased speeds. It was not intended to exceed Mach 0.87 without power-boosted controls, this speed having been attained without difficulty, but it was soon found that the aircraft was well capable of overtaking the current absolute speed record of 616mph reached by a Meteor not long before. The aircraft was cleaned up and prepared for the record attempt, followed by a programme of several dives to determine handling, first at high equivalent airspeed, secondly at high Mach number, and finally a combination of the two. On September 26, 1946, a level speed of 637mph was attained at 9 000ft, and on the following day, when weather conditions appeared smooth, Geoffrey de Havilland took off for the final practise flight before going to Tangmere for attempts over the official course. He was planning to undertake two tests to embrace all the conditions for the record attempt. Initially he was to dive the aircraft from around 10 000ft at a high Mach number so as to check its behaviour and controllability in these conditions. He was also planning to fly level at high power near the sea to check the speed and behaviour in record attempt conditions. He took off from Hatfield at about 5.30pm with fuel for about an hour’s flying. It was a perfect evening with a slight haze, very little cloud and the air was believed to be relatively free from bumps. He had indicated that the tests would be flown over the Thames estuary. When his colleagues waiting at Hatfield began to realise the aircraft was overdue, messages were received through air traffic that an aircraft had been seen to break up in mid-air and fall in the Thames near Egypt Bay, just north of the village of Cliffe and north-east of Gravesend. Despite fog and low cloud, the wreckage was found the following day and the majority, including the engine, was recovered. An investigation into the accident began immediately, and although taking some time to complete, did allow a statement to be released on October 7, ten days after the loss of this short-lived prototype. This stated that it was clear from the evidence available after a thorough inspection that the engine was not responsible for the accident. Sir Geoffrey de Havilland announced in the same statement that the de Havilland Aircraft and Engine Companies intended to continue with the full effort of the research work in the DH108 and that John Cunningham had been appointed to succeed Geoffrey de Havilland as chief test pilot of the de Havilland Aircraft Company. The speed record attempt had been only incidental to the programme of experimental work which was in hand. It had been found desirable to obtain precise measurements of the speed of the DH108 by utilising the accurate timing apparatus set up on the south coast of England for the Gloster Meteor speed-record attempts and it had been decided to make an attack on the record at the same time. The accident investigation found that wind tunnel tests combined with the structural evidence showed that the aircraft had suffered a sudden catastrophic disintegration during low level flight. Gusts had proved a problem at low altitude, a horizontal one of only 15mph encountered at M 0.87 would instantly raise the Mach number to 0.89. This is only a very moderate gust and such do abound at times at low altitudes. With this sudden increase in Mach number, tunnel tests showed that the aircraft would be in a very dangerous condition. It was noted that gusts had been experienced on an earlier flight that day. This sudden change could have given the aircraft a nose-down pitching moment combined with low stability, causing it to pitch down in a shock stall with ensuing failure of the wings. Meetings were soon in hand to discuss the provision of a third prototype E18/45 (DH108) to replace the one so suddenly lost. de Havilland had requested immediately after the accident a go-ahead with this third aircraft and a meeting was held at Thames House on November 15, 1946, to work out the details. Pilot ejection capability was to be built-in, using the then relatively new Martin-Baker equipment. Provision was to be made for a tailplane on the lower part of the fin, but a decision to fit it left until a later date. The power plant was to be a de Havilland Goblin 4 of 37501b / 1701kg st, although a Ghost engine was considered. An important addition was the fitment of power boost control to the elevators, five months after the first flight, to help the pilot overcome some of the excessive loads expected at high speeds. As before, the fuselage was taken from the Vampire production line at Preston, which by now was producing FB Mk5s, and it was allocated the serial number VW120. This third prototype differed from its predecessors in having a more streamlined canopy (tried out on Vampire TG443), lowered pilot’s scat, more pointed nose (tried out on Vampire TG281), better shaped rudder horn and a strengthened structure. It was rolled out for engine runs on July 21, 1947, and made its first flight three days later (24 July 1947), piloted by John Cunningham. It appeared publicly at the SBAC display at Radlett from September 9 to 12 and continued with the first prototype in its original programme of research into the characteristics of the swept-back wing. The next milestone attained by the DH108 was on Monday, April 12, 1948, when VW120 raised the international speed record around a 100 kilometer closed circuit to 605.23mph (974.0259km/hr) flown at the time by John Derry. This speed was 40mph (64km/hr) better than the previous holder of the record, the Supermarine Attacker, which in turn had stolen the record from the Gloster Meteor. The de Havilland aircraft in fact employed considerably less power than either of the aircraft which it outclassed. Only six flights in the 108 were found to be necessary before the actual record attempt and they provided all the confirmation the aerodynamics department needed for its preparation of an efficient flight plan. On the day of the attempt it was decided to do a final flight at midday to check for any snags and to make one final run round. Immediately after take off a paraffin leak developed, causing a cloud of vapour to form in the cockpit. The vapour eventually cleared sufficiently for a landing to be made and repairs were made by late afternoon. It had been decided before the attempt that owing to the difficulties of flying in bumpy air at over 600mph the attempt should not be made before 4.30pm. At 5.00pm a further check flight round was made, but although the 108 was fully serviceable, the air was very bumpy, so a decision was made to wait an hour before John Cunningham made a final cheek in a Vampire. This time the air was found to be quite smooth apart from some isolated spots and visibility was fair though poor on the second leg. Since better conditions could not be expected that day it was decided to make the attempt. After take-off a climb to 1500ft was made towards Elstree and a turn over Harrow to head for the starting point at Brookmans Park. The line was crossed as close as possible to the aerial masts at about 300ft above the ground with a speed of about 620mph. On settling down on the first leg towards the Puckeridge aerial the air was found to be smooth making a high speed more feasible. The next leg was more hazy making the identification of landmarks difficult and consequently seconds were lost on course correction, but after the brickworks corner the haze cleared and the ASI showed 635mph as the next turn at Sundon cement works was approached, level at 500ft. From here it was possible to see the smoke markers at Gaddesdon Row indicating the last turn, before turning into the final straight over the north of St Albans, past the end of Hatfield’s runway and on towards the BBC masts at Brookmans Park. On landing back at Hatfield one of John Derry’s colleagues thrust a note in his hand giving the speed and time and proving the success of the team effort in gaining the FAI Class C record. During the work up to the speed record John Derry discovered a phenomenon which in retrospect was found to be the true cause of the disaster to Geoffrey de Havilland. When high IAS and Mach numbers were combined, an unstable pitching oscillation developed which was too rapid for the pilot to control, so that at around M 0.88 at sea level divergent oscillations powerful enough to break the wings could develop in less than one second. Following this demonstration of high speed of the DH108 John Derry continued the programme of increasing the speed throughout the summer of 1948. The ultimate was reached on September 6 when, for the first time in the United Kingdom, the speed of sound was exceeded. Since the Goblin engine in the ‘108 was of insufficient power to propel it at high speeds in level flight, the high speeds had to be investigated in dives from high altitude. In building up to Mach 1.0 John Derry had reached M 0.91 to 0.95 in successive flights during the previous days. The flight commenced at 10.00am on September 6 with a take-off from Hatfield for a flight which lasted 45 minutes. On this occasion while flying between Farnborough and Windsor the aircraft was climbed to 45 000ft, the pilot wearing a pressure waistcoat and mask. After being flown level to obtain the maximum level speed of M 0.85, owing to engine temperature limitations a dive of about 30 degrees was commenced. At M 0.95 the engine was opened up to 10750rpm but there was no increase in Mach number due to the large increase in drag. In fact it was necessary to move the stick forward slightly to prevent the Mach number from decreasing. Eventually a point was reached at which a very small elevon movement caused a sudden, but not violent nose-down pitch. The first nose-down pitch was over and the aircraft back in a 30 degree dive before an attempt could be made to hold a steeper angle. This small stick movement was repeated a second time, giving a more violent nose down pitch with a return to 30 degrees. On the third attempt a much more violent pitch down was experienced, which was similar to a half bunt and put the aircraft over the vertical. An immediate pull-out was started, but during this the Mach number increased rapidly until 0.97 was indicated. As the aircraft reached a 60 to 80 degree dive with Mach still increasing, the stick force rose rapidly until it became impossible to hold the aircraft, which took over and increased the dive angle to the vertical. At this point M 1.0 was reached and passed. The engine was throttled back as soon as recovery became impossible and full strength with both hands failed to make any impression on the aircraft. In spite of the power being shut off the Mach number stayed in excess of 1.0 and little time was wasted when once it was realised that the elevons were immovable. The only apparent hope of recovery was then tried and full trim flap was applied at once. Almost immediately a very gradual recovery began until at M 0.94 the aircraft finally levelled out at 23 000ft, giving an indicated airspeed of just under 500mph. The small split flap was set somewhat forward of the trailing edge of the inboard wing and in this position fortunately helped the recovery, although normally it was only used for landing. During this dive the aircraft appeared extremely stable, being rock steady and no buffet of any kind was experienced in spite of large amounts of negative ‘ g’. The original intention of the flight had been to take pressure plotting shots with trim flap up and down at varying Mach number, increasing to a maximum of 0.96, but being so near to the sound barrier plans can always change. Following this unprogrammed flight in excess of the speed of sound a further series of tests was set up to approach the problem more slowly. Mach 1.0 was again achieved on March 1, 1949, in the same aircraft, VW120, by John Derry in a flight of 40 minutes. With the now familiar nose-down pitch in the high M dive, when 0.99 was reached and just before trim flap was applied for recovery a further steepening of the dive occurred. Full trim flap was selected with no effect at all on this occasion. The engine was throttled. Negative ‘ g ‘ increased and a slight roll to port developed. The stick was held on the stops with both hands, and because the rolling was steepening the dive full opposite aileron was applied which was partially effective in levelling the aircraft laterally. However, by now the dive was beyond 60 degrees and although recovery appeared in sight, the aircraft again rolled slowly but uncontrollably to port until, after 90 degrees of roll and considerable negative ‘g’, it was in a true vertical dive. There was now absolutely no control, even the lateral control having been lost. From a vertical attitude the negative ‘ g ‘ now increased even more and the spiralling had almost stopped. The aircraft completed on its own the latter half of a bunt and then rolled slowly round at the bottom so that it became laterally level in a shallower dive. Having lost an enormous amount of height it suddenly began to respond again to the controls and recovered from spiralling into level flight and very shortly into a climb as the trim flaps and elevons became effective. The aircraft was finally levelled out at 29 000ft and a return made to Hatfield. Mach 1.0 was exceeded during this uncontrollable dive, but it was noticed that control was always regained at about 26 000ft, which of course pointed the way to the realisation that recovery was probably due not to trim flap or luck, but to the increased drag with increased air density at lower altitudes, which also in effect reduced the Mach number to a safe figure. By this time, when trials were complete and the aerodynamic characteristics of the swept wing had been fully investigated the first prototype, TG283, had been transferred to the RAE, Farnborough, in October 1948. Here it continued further investigations into stability, control and landing trials and when fitted with the longer stroke undercarriage from a Sea Vampire to avoid hitting the tailpipe on the runway, landings were made as low as 95 knots in February and March 1950. These low-speed trials abruptly ceased on May 1, 1950, when the aircraft crashed near Hartley Wintney, Hants, during stalling tests, killing the pilot, Squadron Leader G. E. C. Genders, AFC, DFNI. The aircraft had apparently entered a spin from which it failed to recover. Towards the end of 1949 the third prototype, VW120, had joined the first aircraft at Farnborough when, amongst other tests, it was used to investigate longitudinal stability at high speeds. Shortly after its arrival this last prototype was lost on February 15, 1950, when it crashed near Birkhill, Bucks, killing the pilot, Squadron Leader J. S. R. MullerRowland. This accident was apparently due to lack of oxygen for the pilot as no fault was found in the aircraft and no break up had occurred. The DH 108 was found to be a pleasant aircraft to fly, with d nose-high approach and rate of sink fairly close to the stall. Although this was thought a little alarming at the time it was in fact only exhibiting the modem tendencies of the swept wing. It was a remarkably clean design which was demonstrated by the fact that it could attain high speeds on very low-power. VW120 was easily capable of maintaining Mach 0.88 at 35000ft. Both TG283 and VW120 were fitted with large wing fences, TG283 having two on each wing in November 1947. The wing of TG283 was also given dihedral for a while, making its first flight in this configuration on September 16, 1948. Despite all three prototypes ending their careers in accidents, the DH108 made some remarkable advances in aviation in the UK. This was not just restricted to pure high-speed research. The powered controls were similar to the ones destined for the DH106 Comet and were developed on this aircraft. The experience gained with the swept wing was used to benefit the development of the DH110. This later became the Sea Vixen all-weather fighter with the Fleet Air Arm today. First Flights, TG283 – 15.5.46, TG306 – 21.8.46, VW120 – 24.7.47.
Prototype 1 Engine: de Havilland Goblin 2, 3000 lb st Wing span: 39ft. Length: 25ft 10in. Wing Area: 328 sq ft.
Prototype 3 Engine: de Havilland Goblin 4 turbojet, 3,750 lb (1,701 kg) st. Wing span: 39 ft 0 in (11.89 m). Length: 26 ft 9.5in (8.17m). Wing area: 328 sq ft (30.47sq.m). Max take-off weight: 4064 kg / 8960 lb Max level speed: approx 560 mph (900 km/h) at 45,000 ft (13,720 m) (Mach 0.85) Max attained speed: Mach 1 in a dive between 40,000 ft (12,200 m) and 30,000 ft (9,145 m). Crew: 1.
The design began in 1941, to satisfy Air Ministry Specification E.6/41 for an interceptor fighter to be powered by the then-developing Halford-designed de Havilland H-1 Goblin turbojet of 2,700 lb St (1 226 kgp), the twin-boom configuration of this aircraft was virtually dictated by the chosen power plant. This was because a single turbojet was to provide the total thrust; as this was very limited in early engines, it was necessary to ensure that power loss from the jet tailpipe was restricted to an absolute minimum by keeping the tailpipe as short as possible.
The first flight of the prototype, made by Geoffrey de Havilland jr, took place at Hatfield in Hertfordshire on 20 September 1943 powered by a 12kN de Havilland Goblin turbojet, just 16 months after the start of design the aircraft (LZ548/G) featuring pointed fins. Two further prototypes (LZ551/G and MP838/G) quickly joined the flight programme, the latter car¬rying the planned armament of four 20 mm Hispano cannon under the nose which, like the Mosquito, was of plywood and balsa construction, the remainder of the aircraft being metal. Like the Mosquito’s fuselage, this was built in two half-shells which were joined top and bottom. The monoplane wing was an all-metal structure, incorporating the engine air intakes in the wing roots, split trailing-edge flaps, air brakes and ailerons. The pilot, was seated well forward in the central nacelle beneath a three-piece canopy (replaced later by a bubble canopy).
The name was changed from Spider Crab to Vam¬pire when on 13 May 1944 a contract for 120 production examples of the Vam¬pire F.Mk 1 (later increased to 300) was placed for manufacture by the English Electric Company, Preston. The first production aircraft (TG274/G), with square cut fins and Goblin turbojet (as the Halford engine was named) was flown at Samlesbury on 20 April 1945, becoming the first British fighter with a speed of over 805 km/h (500 mph). Pre service and handling trials occu¬pied the remainder of 1945, however, and the Vampire saw no operational service during the war.
The first production F.1 Vampire was powered by the same engine as the prototype, as were the next 39 aircraft. Subsequent F.1 had 3,100 lb / 13.8kN Goblin Gn.2 engines and a pressurised cockpit, the first 50 production Vampires lacking this feature. Entering service too late to make a contribution to World War II, the first squadron to operate the Vampire was 247 Squadron at Chilbolton in Hampshire, taking delivery of their first aircraft in March 1946 and becoming operational in April.
Production of the Vampire F Mk I, with 3,100 lb St (1407 kgp) Goblin II, was undertaken by English Electric, which built a total of 174 for the RAF and 70 for Sweden’s Flygvapen, delivered from 1946; Switzerland’s Flugwaffe acquired four Vampire Is for evaluation in 1946 and El Cuerpo de Aviaçion Militar of Dominica acquired 25 from Flygvapnet in 1952. One supplied to RCAF.
In 1948 John Cunningham established an altitude record in the Ghost-Vampire at 59,492 feet.
The Vampire 6 was specially evolved to meet Swiss requirements. This variant had clipped wings and powered by a Goblin 3 of 3300 lb thrust. It was designed for combined fighter and ground attack roles.
Based on the positive test results achieved with the DH-100 Mk 1, the decision for a new combat aircraft foe the Swiss Air Force was at the end of 1948 and a series of 75 DH-100 MK6s were ordered. In May 1949, the first aircraft were taken over and replaced obsolete Me109 E-1/3 and Morane D-3800/01. All airplanes were flown to Switzerland from Hatfield, England to Emmen without any incidents. The 75 aircraft (J-1005 to J-1079) were delivered in the years 1949 and 1950.
A year later licence production of a second series of 100 aircraft by FFA began. The 100 licence built DH-100 Mk 6 Vampire (J-1101 to J-1200) were in service from 1951 onwards. Until 1960, all vampires were still in operation without Martin Baker’s seats. Against the heat in the summer, due to the insufficient air conditioning, a light flightsuit and white helmets were introduced. At the beginning of the 1960s, the vampires were equipped with a Martin Baker sling seat, an emergency package, a new joystick and a new cabin roof with single glazing.
The DH-100 Mk 6 Vampire were operational from 1949 to 1973, but most aircraft were retired during 1968/1969. In Switzerland, they were in use from 1949 to 1990. On 12th June 1990, the last Vampire at the Emmen airfield were taken out of the pilot school. A respectable number was written off in 1974, but liquidations were still carried out until 1988. From 1953, two-seater (DH-115) were also used.
The Vampire F Mk 3 was similar to the Mk I but carried 100-imp gal (454-l) drop tanks and had a revised tail unit with lower tailplane, rounded rudders and a tailplane/fin acorn fairing. Production by EEC totalled 117 for the RAF and 85 for the RCAF. The RNoAF evaluated four Mk 3s and the Fuerza Aérea Mexicana acquired 15 from the RCAF in 1961. To adapt the Vampire for ground attack duties, de Havilland introduced a strengthened and clipped wing (first flown on a Mk I airframe on 29 June 1948) to produce the FB Mk 5. With the basic airframe of the F Mk 3 and a 3,100 lb st (1 407 kgp) Goblin 2 or 4,400 lb st (1 998 kgp) Goblin 2/2 turbojet, the Vampire FB Mk 5 had a longer-stroke undercarriage and in addition to the four 20-mm British Hispano cannon could carry, on wing strong points inboard and outboard of the booms, eight 60-lb (27-kg) RPs and two 500-lb (227-kg) or two 1,000-lb (454-kg) bombs, or two 200 Imp gal (9091) drop tanks. The first of 888 FB Mk 5s for the RAF flew on 23 June 1948; some of these were diverted either new or secondhand to the RNZAF, SAAF, Armée de lAir, Aeronautica Militare Italiana and the Lebanon Air Force. Specific export versions similar to the FB Mk Shad the 3,350 lb st (1 521 kgp) Goblin 3 and improved performance; these included the FB Mk 50 for Sweden’s Flygvapnet and the FB Mk 52 built for Egypt, Finland, Iraq, India, New Zealand, Norway and Venezuela.
In New Zealand it became the RNZAF’s first jet fighter, with 58 examples serving between 1951 and 1972 before their replacement by the Strikemasters and Skyhawks.
In the early 1950s, De Havilland produced a two-seat night-fighter version, the NF10, and these aircraft formed the backbone of the RAF’s night-fighter force until the arrival of the Meteor NF11. A total of 95 two-seat NF.10 Vampire night-fighters also served in an interim capacity with the RAF from 1951, pending the introduction of Meteor and Venom night fighters.
The T11 trainer version was a development of the NF10 and the type continued in service until well into the 1980s.
The last major variant was the Vampire T.11 two- seat trainer, over 800 of which were built.
The Royal Navy had a small number of F.20 Sea Vampires, generally similar to the RAF’s FB.5, and 74 T.22 two-seat trainers derived from the T.11.
Sea Vampire F.20 1948
Earlier Sea Vampire were hooked Mk.1, and although the F.20 is virtually a hooked Mk.3, the wings have been clipped, and the aircraft modified to full Naval standard.
Foreign licence production comprised 100 FB Mk 6 by FFA in Switzerland; 80 FB Mk 52A by Macchi and Fiat in Italy; 183 by SNCASE in France in addition to 67 assembled from British components and 281 by HAL in India including 34 from imported components.
Production of single-seat Vampires for the RAF ended with 381 FB Mk 9s, essentially a FB.Mk.5 with cockpit air conditioning for Far East service and 3350 lb thrust. Seventeen ex-Swedish FB Mk 50s were transferred to Dominica in 1956, and ex-RAF Mk 9s went to Rhodesia (5), Jordan and Ceylon.
Three Vampire Is were fitted with 4,500 lb St (2043 kgp) Rolls-Royce Nene 1 engines to Specification F. 11/4S for evaluation but no production of the proposed F Mk II to this standard was undertaken in the UK. After further modification by Boulton Paul to enlarge the wing-root air intakes, one of the three Nene-engined aircraft was shipped to Australia to become the pattern aircraft for 57 Vampire F Mk 30s built by de Havilland for the RAAF. With a 5,000 lb st (2270 kgp) Nene 2-VH assembled in Australia by CAC, the first Vampire 30 flew on 29 June 1948, this and subsequent aircraft having the same tail unit as the British Mk 3 and “elephant ear” intakes above the rear fuselage. Twenty-three FB Mk 31s had a similar airframe to that of the RAF’s FB Mk 5, and 28 Mk 30s were converted to the same standard. Two examples in 1951 became F Mk 32s with cockpit air conditioning, as in the British Mk 9, and ejection seats. The Mk T.35 Vampire was licence built at Bankstown during the 1950s for the Royal Australian Air Force and is outwardly identical to the de Havilland T.11 Vampire. One major difference is that the T.35 has hydraulic “maxaret” anti skid brakes compared to the T.11 s pneumatic system, and the engine is slightly different, being a Mk.5 Goblin compared to the Mk.11 engine. The Mk.T.35 was equipped with Martin Baker Mk.IB ejection seats.
On 14 July 1948 six Vampire 3s of No.54 Squadron became the first ever jet aircraft to fly across the Atlantic under their own power.
Vampire FB.5 VV454 was fitted with an extended jet pipe to test a reheat (afterburner) system for the Goblin 2, with extended tail bumpers to stop the jet pipe touching the ground.
FB.5 VV454 testing reheat
Only the F. 1, and the Nene powered F.2 (not adopted by the RAF, but later Nene powered aircraft were built under licence in Australia and France, the latter being named Mistral) had the original, squared off style tail. The F.3 had a smaller, more rounded type of a shape that was almost a De Havilland trademark. As for the two seaters: these initially had a tail similar to the F.3, etc, but with taller rudders, latter the acorn fairing was deleted and the fin area increased so it extended forward in a gentle curve. Up to the F.3 the wingtips were rounded, but on the FB.5 fighter-bomber the rounded portion was deleted, the result being a “clipped” wing of slightly reduced span.
After assembling 67 Vampire FB Mk 5 single-seat fighters from British-supplied components and licence-building a further 120 aircraft in their entirety, the Societe Nationale de Constructions Aeronautiques de Sud-Est (SNCASE) began production of a more powerful version of the basic aircraft. Assigned the designation Vampire Mk 53 by the parent company and given the appellation of SE 530 by Sud-Est, this was developed for the Armee de l’Air. It utilised the basic Mk 5 airframe mated with the 2270kg Hispano-built Nene 102, the wing root intakes being enlarged and the split-trunk intake of the Hawker P.1040 being adapted to provide the extra air demanded for the rear face of the Nene’s double-sided impeller. Fuel tankage was increased, cabin pressurisation introduced and the pilot was provided with an SNCASO ejection seat. A pre-series of four aircraft was built, the first of these flying on 1 April 1951. Baptised Mistral, the type entered series production in SE 532 form, the first flying in December 1951 and 97 being built. These were followed by 150 examples of the SE 535, the last of which was delivered on 25 March 1954. The SE 535 was powered by the Nene 104 with similar rating to the Nene 102B of the SE 532, and, in addition to its four 20mm HS 404 cannon, could carry eight T-10 or HVAR rockets, or two 450kg bombs. The Mistral internal fuel tanks in the fuselage and wings can be supplemented by two large underwing tanks. The Mistral entered Armee dl’Air service in 1952 and was finally withdrawn in 1961.
Deck-landing trials with one of the prototype D.H. 100 Vampire fighters began aboard HMS Ocean as early as 3 December 1945, these being the first-ever carrier operations by a pure jet aircraft. Successful trials with two fully-navalised Vampire I conversions led to an order for 30 Sea Vampire F Mk 20s, the first of which flew in October 1948. Armed with four 20-mm cannon and with the basic airframe of the Vampire FB Mk 5, they served primarily in a training role to give Fleet Air Arm pilots jet experience. Six RAE Vampire F Mk 3s were converted to Sea Vampire 21s, with reinforced undersides and armament removed, for use in flexible deck landing trials at RAE Farnborough and on HMS Warrior in 1947-55. The total built include 804 in UK, fifty in India and 109 in Australia. The Sea Vampire T.22 land-based pilot trainer was ordered in 1952 by the RAAF. Thirteen were delivered, the first in June 1954 and the last in August 1959. A total of 85 Vampires were delivered to the RCAF between 1948 and 1950. They were built for the RCAF in a contract dated June 13, 1946, the first aircraft flying on June 3, 1947. Construction of the entire batch was carried out by English Electric at their Preston, Lancashire, plant with test flying undertaken at Samlesbury. They received RCAF numbers 17001 to 17042 and 17044 to 17086. After their retirement, 27 were sold to Fliteways Inc at West Bend, Wisconsin, possibly in early 1958. The President of Fliteways Ine, Merle C Zuelilke, wanted to introduce these former military jets onto the private market as fast hacks or executive aircraft some had already been sold to private owners. However, the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was not keen on the idea of Cessna/Piper Cub pilots zipping about in jets, and so introduced a number of restrictions. New Vampire F.3 owners suddenly found that they could only register them in the experimental/exhibition category as was the case with N6877D (formerly 17069, constructor’s number EEP 42387) which meant that every flight had to be authorised ahead of time, be made under Visual Flight Rules conditions, and be registered on a flight plan. Intended destinations, be they airports or runways, also had to be approved by an FAA safety agent before a flight could take place. Not surprisingly the FAA killed the market stone dead in the US, leaving Fliteways with a number of Vampires it could not sell. At about the same time (1960) the Mexican Air Force was looking for a fighter aircraft. The aircraft were flown to Mexico in groups initially by Minnesota Air National Guard pilots, but this idea was abandoned after the local ANG Commanding Officer suffered an engine blow out in FAM 4 (N6875D, formerly RCAF 17019). This was later repaired at a cost of $9,000 for a new wing, nose landing gear, new engine, electrical system and hydraulic system. It is reported that Mr Leo Geib of West Bend ferried most of the aircraft in Mexico and helped to check out the Mexican pilots. One group of FAM Vampires (FAM 13, FAM 6 and FAM 1) were photographed during their stopover at Love Field, Dallas, Texas in February 1961, as they made their way to Mexico. It was reported in the Mexican Air Force magazine Anuahuac, that by February 14, 1961, 12 of the 15 Vampires had been delivered to BAM 1 (Base Aerea Militar Military Air Base No 1) at Santa Lucia, outside Mexico City. Eventually all 15 were delivered, but it appears that one was damaged en route at Acapulco, Gueffero repairs to FAM 6 cost $2,000 and required, among other things, new landing gear. Only 14 Vampires were flown operationally, the 15th aircraft was possibly used as a spares source. The number FAM-15 was later allocated to one of the two Mk 11 trainers. The Escuadron Aireo 200 was chosen to receive the Vampires. One thing that the Escuadron Aireo Jet de Pelea 200 lacked was a suitable training aircraft to convert pilots to the Vampires. By 1962 the Mexican Air Force had acquired two de Havilland Vampire T.11 two seat trainers, one being WZ414 which was the first production Mk 11 to enter service in the RAF in 1952. It had been built by de Havilland at Christchurch and spent some time at the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down and with the Empire Test Pilot School. It was declared a non effective airframe on January 29, 1960 and sold to Shackleton Aviation on January 5, 1962. The other was XD439 (built by de Havilland at Chester) which was delivered to the RAF in 1954, and had once served at the Central Navigation and Control School at Shawbury. It was retired to 19 Maintenance Unit at St Athan on May 11, 1959 and was sold to Shackletons on the same date as WZ414. Their date of arrival in Mexico is not known. In 1970 fears over safety, grounded the Vampires even the Mk 11 trainers were considered to be unsafe as there were no more stocks of cartridges for their ejection seats. This occurred during the tenure of Gral Brig P A Jose Vergara Ahumada, as chief of the air force. For many years the surviving F.3s and the two T.11 s were stored in one of the hangars at BAM 1. It was later reported that some of the F.3s were sent as training aids to the Aviation Mechanic School at BAM 5 at Zapopan, Jalisco. Others provided background scenery for the 1969 Mexican movie Aguilas de Acero (Iron Eagles) filmed at BAM 1. Years later some of the aircraft were scrapped one of the Mk.IIs met a similar demise, but the cockpit section went to a private collector in Mexico City. The other Mk 11 is preserved at the main army base inside Mexico City where, for many years, there was also Mk 3 No 5 acting as gate guard, wearing an incorrect camouflage scheme. It was removed in 1992, restored and, then put on display in the grounds of the new Mexican Air Force HQ building in Mexico City. No 13 is on display at the Military Aviation School (Colegio del Aire) at BAM-5 at Zapopan, as a tribute to the first jet fighters of the Fuerza Airea Mexicana.
3268 DH-100 Vampires were built, a quarter of them under licence.
Vampire Engine: one 1225 kg (2,700 lb) thrust de Havilland Goblin 1 centrifugal-flow turbojet. Max speed 824 km/h (512 mph) at 10365 m (34,000 ft) Initial climb 1235 m (4,050 ft) per minute Service ceiling 12620 m (41,400 ft) Range 1190 km (740 miles) Empty weight 2803 kg (6,180 lb) Maximum take off 4627 kg (10,200 lb) Wing span 12.19 m (40 ft 0 in) Length 9.37 m (30 ft 9 in) Height 2.69 m (8 ft 10 in) Wing area 24.71 sq.m (266.0 sq.ft) Armament: four 20 mm Hispano cannon
Vampire 1 Engine: 1 x de Havilland Goblin 2 engine, 3,100 lbst (1,407kgst). Max take-off weight: 3890 kg / 8576 lb Empty weight: 2890 kg / 6371 lb Wingspan: 12.2 m / 40 ft 0 in Length: 9.4 m / 30 ft 10 in Height: 2.7 m / 8 ft 10 in Wing area: 24.7 sq.m / 265.87 sq ft Max. speed: 869 km/h / 540 mph Range w/max.payload: 1175 km / 730 miles Crew: 1 Armament: 4 x 20mm cannons
Vampire 1 Engine: 1 x de Havilland Goblin, 2700 lbst Wingspan: 11.58 m / 38 ft 0 in Length: 10.49 m / 34 ft 6 in Max. speed: 885 km/h / 531 mph Crew: 1
F Mk 3 Engine: One 3,100 lb thrust de Havilland Goblin D.Gn.2 turbojet Span, 40 ft 0 in (12,20 m). Length, 30 ft 9 in (9,37 m). Height, 6 ft 3 in (1,9 1 m). Wing area, 266 sq ft (24,71 sq.m). Empty weight, 7,134 lb (3239 kg). Normal loaded weight, 12,170 lb (5 525 kg). Maximum weight: 11,970 lb (5429 kg) Max speed, 531 mph (854 km/h) at sea level and 505 mph (813 km/h) at 30,000 ft (9 145 m). Range, 1,145 mls (1 842 km) at 30,000 ft (9 145 m) at 350 mph (563 km/h). Initial climb, 4,375ft/min (22,2 m/sec).
FB Mk 5 Engine: de Havilland Goblin turbojet, 3100 lb thrust. Max speed, 530 mph (846 km/h) at sea level, 540 mph at 20,000 ft, 482 mph (772 km/h) at 40,000 ft (12200 m). Range, 1,145 mls (1 842 km) at 30,000 ft (15 150 m) at 350 mph (563 km/h). Empty weight, 7,253 lb (3 310 kg). Max loaded weight, 12,360 lb (5632 kg). Span, 38 ft 0 in (11,50 m). Length. 30 ft 9 in (9,37 m). Height, 6 ft 3 in (1,91 m). Wing area, 261 sq ft (24,25 sq.m). Armament: 4 x 30mm mg + 2000 lb disposable stores.
Vampire T.11 Engine: 1 x 3,500 lbs.t. (1588 kgp) de Havilland Goblin 35. Max speed, 549 mph (883 kph) at 20,000ft (6 096 m) Cruise, 403 mph (649 kph) Initial climb, 4,500 fpm. (22.86 m/sec) Range, 853 mls (1373 km). Empty weights: 7,380 lb (3 347 kg) Loaded weight: 12,920 lb (5 860 kg). Wingspan 38 ft (11.58 m) Length, 34 ft 5 in (10.49 m) Wing area, 262 sq.ft (24.33 sq.m). Armament: Two 20 mm cannon.
Sea Vampire F.Mk.20 Span, 38 ft 0 in (11,50 m). Length. 30 ft 9 in (9,37 m). Height, 6 ft 3 in (1,91 m). Wing area, 261 sq ft (24,25 sq.m). Max speed, 526 mph (846 km/h). Time to 25,000 ft (7620 m), 10 min. Range, 1,145 mls (1 842 km) at 30,000 ft (9 144 m) at 350 mph (563 km/h). Loaded weight, 12,660 lb (5 748 kg).
Sea Vampire T.22 Engine One 3,500lb thrust De Havilland Goblin 35 centrifugal turbojet Empty weight 7,380 lb Loaded weight 12,920 lb Wing Span: 38 ft 10 in Length: 34 ft 5 in Height: 6 ft 2 in Crew 2 Initial Rate of Climb: 4,500 ft per minute Ceiling: 43,000 ft Speed: 538 mph Range: 623 miles Armament 2 x 20 mm cannon , 8 x 60lb rockets
SNCASE SE 535 Mistral Engine: Hispano-built RR Nene 104, 5000 lbst Span: 38 ft 0 in (11,50 m). Length: 30 ft 9 in (9,37 m) Height: 6 ft 2 in Wing area: 262 sq ft (24,25 sq.m). Empty weight: 7,665 lb (3840kg). Loaded weight (with drop tanks): 12,643 lb (5740 kg). Max take-off weight: 13,448 lb / 6100 lb Max speed: 575 mph (925 km/h) at sea level and 557 mph (896 kmh) at 19,685 ft (6000 m). Initial climb: 7,086 ft/min (36 m/sec). Service ceiling: 49,200 ft Range w/max.fuel: 1118 miles / 1800 km Armament: 4 x 20 mm cannon Hardpoints: 2 x 1000 lb
On 24 August 1931 the company had flown the only example of the de Havilland D.H.81 Swallow Moth, a low wing open-cockpit two-seater powered by a 60 kW (80hp) Gipsy IV engine. With production capacity filled by orders for various models of the Moth the project was discontinued, to be resurrected some years later when advantage could be taken of-some structural techniques used in the Comet and Albatross. Of wooden construction throughout, the prototype D.H.94 Moth Minor was first flown by Captain Geoffrey de Havilland at Hatfield on 22 June 1937. Unlike the earlier Moths, it was flown from the front seat, and incorporated a large perforated air brake under the centre section.
Production followed and by the outbreak of World War II 71 examples had been completed, including nine Moth Minor Coupe aircraft with built-up rear fuselages and hinged cabin tops. Over 100 had been built by September 1939, but early in 1940, when Hatfield’s production capacity was required urgently for aircraft more vital to the war effort, the Moth Minor drawings, jigs, components and finished but undelivered airframes were delivered to de Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd at Bankstown, Sydney. More than 40 were supplied to the Royal Australian Air Force.
The total production was about 150.
DH 94 Moth Minor G-AFOM
Five were impressed by the RNZAF 1940-46 for general duties.
D.H.94 Engine: 1 x de Havilland Gipsy Minor, 67kW / 90 hp Max take-off weight: 703 kg / 1550 lb Empty weight: 446 kg / 983 lb Wingspan: 11.15 m / 36 ft 7 in Length: 7.44 m / 24 ft 5 in Height: 1.93 m / 6 ft 4 in Wing area: 15.05 sq.m / 162.00 sq ft Max. speed: 190 km/h / 118 mph Cruise speed: 161 km/h / 100 mph Ceiling: 5030 m / 16500 ft Range: 483 km / 300 miles Endurance: 6 hr
With details outlined in Military Specification T.6/36, the Don was to be a three seat, low wing, general purpose trainer, with the same flying characteristics as the new monoplane fighters and bombers then entering service. In the interests of economy, it was to be a combination trainer, suitable as an advanced pilot trainer as well as radio operator and gunnery training.
Arthur E. Hagg designed an aircraft that had four welded steel tube frames bolted together, and attached to a wooden monocoque fuselage which consisted of four resin impregnated moulded plywood sections. The top and bottom sections were curved in heated moulds, while the middle fuselage sections were flat. These sections were strengthened along the joints by wooden stringers which gave the fuselage two distinct lines were the panels overlap.
The wings were built in three sections. The front and rear spars were plywood box structures overlain by two thin layers of diagonal spruce planking, the leading edge being plywood covered.
The de Havilland Gipsy Twelve engine installed originally in the D.H.91 Albatross was renamed Gipsy King for military use and selected to power Air Ministry Specification T.6/36. Fitted with one inverted V-12-cylinder D.H. Gipsy King 1 air-cooled engine producing 525 BHP at 2,400 rpm, Hagg incorporated the ductd reverse-airflow cooling system he had designed for the Albatross. The air intakes. were built into the leading edges of the wings, the air ducted over the top of the engine inside the cowl, down past the cylinders to exit via the centre of the inverted Vee, and out through the back of the engine. This to intake the Don aerodynamically very clean in order to achieve a high performance from a relatively low-powered engine. Maximum speed was 216 mph (348 km/h) at 8,000 ft (2438 in) arid a service ceiling of 21,500 ft (6401 m) and a range of 855 miles (1376 km), stretching out to 890 miles (1432 km) could be attained when configured as a purely communications aircraft.
The Air Ministry dictated that the fuselage had to be big enough for the instructor and air gunner to be able to change seats in flight, arid that two men had to be able to remove and replace the engine in two hours. A variable pitch propeller was to be fitted. The Pupil and instructor were to sit side-by side and have a standard set of instruments for blind flying, while the gunner had to be completely sheltered front the wind, which meant the Don had to be fitted with a turret.
The Air Ministry dictated that the fuselage had to be big enough for the instructor and air gunner to be able to change seats in flight, arid that two men had to be able to remove and replace the engine in two hours. A variable pitch propeller was to be fitted. The Pupil and instructor were to sit side-by side and have a standard set of instruments for blind flying, while the gunner had to be completely sheltered front the wind, which meant the Don had to be fitted with a turret. Extra pressure to finish the aircraft came when the RAF ordered 250 Don Trainers but, just as Hagg was making progress, the Air Ministry sent pages of amendments to Hatfield. These were dated 25th July 1936.
Without warning, in February 1937, the de Havilland Aircraft Company announced that Hagg had resigned, he eventually being replaced by another of the design team, Ronald E. Bishop.
Bishop and his team finished the Don prototype L23871 and it was first flown at Hatfield 18 June 1937. Eight days later Flt/Lr E. R.Symonds flew it at the S.B.A.C. air show.
Following manufacturer’s initial trials, during which small auxiliary fins were fitted beneath the tailplane, the aircraft was transferred to Martlesham Heath on 14th September for official evaluation but fell short of what the Air Ministry had by then decided they wanted.
The prototype was flown by three pilots, who found that “unusual” force was needed to stall the aircraft, for the control column got progressively heavier as the speed slowed and the stick was pulled back. With the flaps up the Don stalled marked with a sharp wing drop. With the flaps down, the wing drop was less marked, but was accompanied by a snatching of the ailerons so that, although control was quickly regained when the nose dropped, for a moment the wing could not be raised with the ailerons. The Don prototype was returned to de Havilland’s where the stalling problems were improved with the addition of a four-foot long strip to the wing leading edge. Small fins were fitted near the ends of the tail plane and thereafter the Don stalled without the vicious wing drop. On 19th January 1938 a pilot from Martlesham came over to Hatfield to retest the aircraft and he considered that the handling was now acceptable provided a spring loaded elevator control system was fitted to reduce the load on the control column during take-off.
A three bladed propeller was fitted to the second Don to improve the take-off, but to achieve a satisfactory climb rate, the engine supercharger had to be boosted to get the revs up to the required level. More changes were made and the mass balances on the elevator, as well as new undercarriage oleo struts, finally produced a satisfactory landing and take-off roll. The test pilots acknowledged that the handling had improved, but criticised the poor view, difficulty in getting in and out, excessive take-off distance, and heavy elevator controls.
Armament consisted of one Lewis gun with three magazines, in an enclosed rotating turret, one fixed Browning gun in the wing and provision for 16 practice bombs tinder wing. llowever the Brownin, machine gun tended to fire erratically and several modifications were made to improve this, but to no avail. The changes needed to satisfy the RAF were still as elusive as ever and then, on 24th June 1938, the Air Ministry told de Havilland’s that the Don was no longer required and the order for all 250 machines was cancelled.
The Air Ministry had selected the Miles Master for advanced pilot training and the Avro Anson and Airspeed Oxford for twin-engine, navigation, radio and air gunnery training. But when it was pointed out that when they cancelled the Don, the RAF would end up with a large number of Gipsy Twelve (renamed Gipsy King for the Don) engines from the production line with no aircraft to put them in. To settle this dilemma de Havilland’s were given an order for 50 three-seat communications aircraft to be converted from the Don Trainer. The first conversion, L2391, went to Martlesham in September 1938 with the turret removed to test its suitability of carrying three people with parachutes. Accessibility for less agile passengers, such as senior officers, was fixed by adding an external step on the fuselage and an internal step with a hand grip. However the pilot’s seat was considered uncomfortable because the fixed back was not high enough and the safety harness prevented the pilot from leaning forward to reach the instruments. In addition there was no cockpit heating and the emergency exit in the roof was difficult i to open if the pilot stayed seated. On 22nd September 1938, the first communications Don, L2391, was completing a fuel consumption test at 10,000 ft (3048 m). The pilots came down to 3,000 ft (914 m) but when they opened the throttle nothing happened, they then tried all sorts of combinations of throttle and propeller settings to no avail. They attempted a cross-wind landing with the undercarriage down but stalled and the undercarriage was torn off and the fuselage then broke near the rear spar.
Only 30 Dons ever flew and even in the communications role the aircraft had a very short service life, with most converted to instructional airframes. Of this total 20 were delivered as engineless airframes and the remainder converted for communications duties with No. 24 Squadron and a number of station Flights.
D.H.93 Engine: 1 x de Havilland Gipsy King 1, 391kW Max take-off weight: 3112 kg / 6861 lb Empty weight: 2291 kg / 5051 lb Wingspan: 14.48 m / 47 ft 6 in Length: 11.38 m / 37 ft 4 in Height: 2.87 m / 9 ft 5 in Wing area: 28.24 sq.m / 303.97 sq ft Max. Speed: 304 km/h / 189 mph Ceiling: 7100 m / 23300 ft Range: 1432 km / 890 miles
Structurally similar to the D.H.86, the D.H.87 Hornet Moth design philosophy was commercial rather than aerodynamic, and biplane wings could be manufactured far more economically than the more complicated box spars of monoplanes. An enclosed side-by-side two-seater, it had tapered wings and a spruce/plywood box fuselage with external longerons, stringers and fabric covering.
The prototype G-ACTA, first flown at Hatfield on 9 May 1934, was joined in a year-long test programme by two similar aircraft, preparing for production deliveries which began in August 1935 under the designation D.H.87A.
More than 60 aircraft were manufactured to this standard with wings of increased taper and span (9.93m), but in 1936 another set of wings was introduced, first fitted retrospectively to the second production Hornet Moth. These wings, virtually without taper and with almost square tips, were made available to existing owners on a trade-in basis and were fitted to almost 100 new aircraft designated D.H.87B. Following development of a floatplane version by de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd, four examples were acquired by the Air Ministry in 1937 for evaluation as seaplane trainers at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe, Suffolk. Hornet Moth production, including the prototype, totalled 165 aircraft.
D.H.87B Engine: 1 x de Havilland Gipsy Major inline, 97kW Max take-off weight: 885 kg / 1951 lb Empty weight: 563 kg / 1241 lb Wingspan: 9.73 m / 31 ft 11 in Length: 7.61 m / 24 ft 12 in Height: 2.01 m / 6 ft 7 in Wing area: 20.44 sq.m / 220.01 sq ft Max. speed: 200 km/h / 124 mph Cruise speed: 169 km/h / 105 mph Ceiling: 4510 m / 14800 ft Range: 998 km / 620 miles
Following a series of fatal wing failures and the resulting bad press concerning the initially very popular and successful D.H.80 Puss Moth, Geoffrey de Havilland set about redesigning the basic airframe which resulted in the D.H.85 Leopard Moth. Although similar in appearance the aircraft was superior overall. A spruce and plywood fuselage was chosen over welded steel tube construction. The timber airframe was not only cheaper to manufacture but was also lighter, the improved gross to tare weight ratio allowing a third passenger to be carried in a side by side arrangement behind the pilot. This produced a wider slab sided fuselage in the early models, however this was later addressed by longitudinal stringers on the outside of the fuselage and applying a fabric covering. The tapered and thinner fabric covered wing allowed a faster cruising speed (118 mph/ 190km/h at 1,000 ft/304 m), but also meant a higher landing speed. The principal way of visually distinguishing between the two aircraft was the position of the main undercarriage compression legs. The Puss Moth’s main legs were anchored at the top of the front windscreen, whereas these legs only travelled as high as the base of the windscreen frame on the Leopard Moth. These legs could be rotated through 90 degrees to serve as a rudimentary air brake, this action reducing air speed by about 35 mph (56 km/h). These steepened the glide angle from 12-1 to 9-1. The 2 gallon (9 litre) oil tank also moved from an external position in the Puss Moth, to behind the firewall in the Leopard.
An initial batch. of six machines were built at de Havilland’s Stag Lane facility, a cautious approach adopted until a first flight could be undertaken and the design could prove its worth. Powered by a 4 cylinder inline air- cooled 130 hp D.H. Gipsy Major driving a two blade fixed pitch propeller, the prototype (G-ACHD) made its first flight on 27 May 1933 at Stag Lane piloted de Havilland for a 20 minute flight.
It was later in the calm of the evening that the remarkable stability of the D.H. 85 was revealed. When flying with the chief engineer Bob Hardingham, de Havilland left the controls and joined Bob in the passenger seat, only being obliged to lean over an adjust the trim once. It was obvious that design was worth pursuing and marketing efforts were spooled up. Included in this effort was an offer to private owners that would see an entirely new (to aviation at least) maintenance service offered. An owner could opt to take advantage of fixed charges for servicing and overhaul required for the Certificate of Airworthiness – all of which would be carried out by de Havilland’s own engineering staff.
Geoffrey de Havilland flew the prototype, which he retained for his private use, to victory in the 1933 running of the King’s Cup Race, clocking an average speed of 139.51 mph (224.51 km/h). The two other Leopard entries (G-ACHC and G-ACHB) came in third and sixth in what was an impressive performance from the new type.
Orders started coming in from both the private sector and business owners and consequently serious production got underway at Stag Lane and thereafter Hatfield, over the next three years. The first 30 aircraft featured a slab side fuselage, but later aircraft were fitted with stringers which ‘padded out’ the sides. During this time 132 examples were built, 71 of which operated in the UK. Several of these undertook long range flights to such diverse destinations as the Cape Verde Islands, Timor and Australia, the latter as a survey flight prior to the MacRobertson Air Race in 1934 when G-AC1X flew an outbound trip lasting 15 days. It almost halved that on the return leg and in doing so set a record of eight days, 12 hours. It was from Australia again that one of the last of these types of flights occurred when ‘Jimmy Broadbent flew VH-AHB from Darwin to Lympne on 3rd May 1937 in just over six days.
A total of 61 examples were built for export, mostly as self assembly kits and were spread throughout the world from India to South Africa and from Switzerland to Argentina.
The price of a DH 85 in the 1930s was £1125.
As with many civil aircraft, Leopard Moths were conscripted into RAF service at the outbreak of WW2, 44 being impressed into the communications role whilst those in the Commonwealth found themselves similarly employed.
Following an accident that saw Geoffrey de Havilland’s G-ACHD come off second best after a run in with a brick wall during a servicing incident, the aircraft was handed over to the Engine Division for use as a test bed for the new 200 hp Gipsy Six which was heavier and longer than the Major. This was compensated for by reducing the sweep back of the wings and moving the wheels fractionally forward. Designated the D.H. 85A, engine tests continued for 20 hours before a flight was made on 23rd October 1933. Prior to the MacRobertson Air Race G-ACHD was again anchored to the ground for some 500 hours of trials of a Gipsy Six fitted with both Ratier and Hamilton props were tested from May to August 1934 when the engine was finally granted approval. It ended its days undergoing icing trials, eventually being scrapped by the end of 1940.
Three years’ production, initially at Stag Lane and then at Hatfield, totalled 132 examples.
D.H.85 Engine: 1 x de Havilland Gipsy Major inline, 97kW / 130 hp Wingspan: 11.43 m / 37 ft 6 in Length: 7.47 m / 24 ft 6 in Height: 2.67 m / 8 ft 9 in Wing area: 19.14 sq.m / 206.02 sq ft Take-off weight: 1009 kg / 2224 lb Empty weight: 637 kg / 1404 lb Fuel capacity std: 17.5 gallon / 79.5 litre Max. speed at SL: 220 km/h / 137 mph Max speed at 10,000 ft / 3048m: 129 mph / 207 km/h Cruise speed: 192 km/h / 119 mph Service ceiling: 17,800 ft / 5425 m Range: 400 miles / 644 km Range with opt. Fuel: 1151 km / 715 miles
The Fox Moth opened an entirely new market for the company yet did not require the creation of a completely new design. Designer A.E. Hagg utilised existing wings, tail group, undercarriage and most of the firewall-forward section from the Tiger Moth, already in production at Hatfield. The Fox Moth was given a new fabric-covered fuselage of spruce and plywood fuselage, locating the pilot in an open cockpit behind an enclosed cabin which accommodated up to four passengers.
The original engine used in the D.H.83 was the 89kW / 120hp de Havilland Gipsy Ill which was the first of the four cylinder Gipsy engines to be inverted, placing the cylinders to the underside of the crankcase to improve visibility over the nose compared with the ‘upright’ arrangement used on earlier Gipsy engines. The slightly improved Gipsy IIIa later appeared, subsequently to be produced in thousands as the Gipsy Major of 130 hp.
First flown at Stag Lane on 29 January 1932, the prototype Fox Moth (c/n 4000) G-ABUO was shipped to Canada where it was registered CF-API and was evaluated on both skis and floats with Canadian Airways Ltd. Determined to be a suitably rugged contender for the bush-plane market, a further seven sets of D.H.83 components were shipped to Canada for erection at the DHC Downsview facility. That first machine stayed active throughout the 1930s and the war era to eventually be withdrawn and scrapped in 1950.
The second production aircraft G-ABUT (c/n 4002), was flown to victory by WL.Hope in the King’s Cup Race in July 1932. Only slightly modified, the aircraft averaged 124.13 mph on 130hp.
The first multiple purchase customer for the D.H.83 was Edward Hillman, owner of a large fleet of buses who had also been operating a small flying service using Puss Moths. On seeing that he could carry four passengers instead of two on the same engine, Hillman immediately recognised an opportunity and ordered three Fox Moths.
De Havilland DH.83 Fox Moth OO-ENC (c/n 4033), based at Deurne airfield, was bought from the Prince of Wales by Mr Guy Hansez, Member of the Antwerpen Aviation Club and arrived in Belgium on January 11th, 1934. On March 24th, 1934 the pilot started an African flight Antwerpen – Leopoldville. In less than 5 days the African city was reached after a trip via the Sahara, Niger and Gabon. In 1936 the plane was sold to a New Zeeland owner. After many different owners and jobs, the plane was acquired by Vintage Wings of Canada and flying registered as C-FYPM.
Other multiple users were the Scottish Motor Traction Co. Ltd. which operated eight D.H.83s and Midland and Scottish Air Ferries which used four. In the Southern Hemisphere the Fox Moth found favour in rugged areas of Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea. A total of 24 appeared on the Australian register of which a large number served with flying doctor and bush aid services, including numerous examples that served in New Guinea (now PNG). In New Zealand, Bert Mercer’s Air Travel (NZ) Ltd was the countrys first commercial airline and pioneered services on the rugged and remote west coast of the South Island using Fox Moths.
In New Zealand, one was impressed into the RNZAF during 1943-48, and three were owned by National Airways Corp during 1948-56 (ZK-AEK Mohua, ZK-AGM Matahi, ZK-ASP Mimiro).
Production of the D.H.83 reached a total of 98 aircraft completed in England, plus two examples in Australia and one copy in Japan. That machine was modelled after several original examples sold to that country, but it was fitted with a Gasuden Jimpu 3 radial engine of 150 hp. The aircraft went by the name of Gasuden KR- 1 and was christened ‘Chidorigo’ (Plover). As far as is known, just this one example was built, but it is not recorded as part of acknowledged D.H.83 production.
Post WW2, the de Havilland Canada plant at Downsyiew spooled up to produce the Fox Moth biplane again to fill a need for utility aircraft suitable for bush flying in remote parts of the country.
Utilising the major flying components of the de Havilland Canada D.H.82C Tiger Moth of which 1,523 were produced during WW-II, the post war Fox Moths were quickly and efficiently produced. They featured the uprated 145hp Gipsy Major 10 and a new bubble canopy design specific to this model. 53 were delivered before production ceased completely to make way for the DHC-1 Chipmunk that was beginning to take over production at the plant.
Another example of the D.H.83C (there were no D.H.83A or D.H.83B variants) was completed by Leavens Bros Ltd in 1948.
D.H.83 Engine: 1 x de Havilland Gipsy Major, 97kW / 130 hp Take-off weight: 939 kg / 2070 lb Empty weight: 499 kg / 1100 lb Wingspan: 9.41 m / 30 ft 10 in Length: 7.47 m / 24 ft 6 in Height: 2.68 m / 8 ft 10 in Wing area: 24.25 sq.m / 261.02 sq ft Max. speed: 182 km/h / 113 mph Cruise speed: 154 km/h / 96 mph Ceiling: 3870 m / 12700 ft Range: 579 km / 360 miles Crew: 1 Passengers: 4
As a result of interest being shown in de Havilland’s D,H.60M “Metal Moth” as a cheap introduction to combative military operations, de Havilland built in November 1930 what they described as a “D.H.T. (Training) Moth”. Essentially a D.H.60M with a de Havilland Gipsy II engine with an inverted fuel system, aircraft No 1672 was complete by December 5. Compared with the earliest civil versions the D.H.60T was strengthened to allow it to operate at a higher all-up weight, and it could also carry four 9-kg (20-lb) practice bombs under the fuselage.
Following review, the company decided that it could be further improved; developed to Specification 15/31, anchorage of the front and rear lift wires was repositioned, allowing unhindered access onto the walkway and the root-ends of the upper mainplanes were cut away to improve the upward view.
Designated as a D.H.60T Moth Trainer and registered G-ABKU on April 1, 1931, it was despatched to the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Martlesham Heath under de Havilland’s test marks E.3, but was dismantled in July and “reduced to redundant stock”.
Working with another airframe, the de Havilland team’s new task to comply with the Air Ministry’s requirements was to rearrange the geometry of the cabane structure. The forward shift of the centre section tank proved to be 18in measured at the wing root, and the trial installation was scrutinised by Geoffrey de Havilland and test pilot Hubert Broad, who was not totally convinced, with the result that the centre section was moved forward by a further 4in.
The change in geometry solved the cockpit accessibility, but the aircraft was now seriously out of balance.
The simplest and cheapest option was to sweep back all four wings, the degree determined after moving the interplane struts 9in forward of their original location, but it proved not to be sufficient. Further sweepback was added to the top wings alone until the centre of gravity (cg) conditions were considered to be satisfied. This precluded the ability to fold the wings, not a drawback for military operators but a major selling feature of all other Moths.
On July 10, 1931, the aircraft was identified as a “D.H. Training Moth T1” fitted with a Gipsy II engine. It is probable that the core of the T1 Moth was the former G-ABIKS, which, as E.4, was flown by Jack Tyler on July 21. E.4 never qualified for a C of A before it too was declared redundant and dismantled.
To comply with another Air Ministry requirement, a prospective training aeroplane had to be given a name, one beginning with “T” (for Trainer), and de Havilland chose Tiger Moth.
The decision to “invert” the Gipsy II engine was taken in 1929, the resultant Gipsy III offering the same horsepower but a much improved forward view and higher thrust-line. The first Trainer with the revised swept wings and a Gipsy III to be designated D.H.60T Tiger Moth was No 1726, registered G-ABNI on June 25, 1931.
Sales Director Francis St Barbe was still concerned about prospects in Canada, and in August G-ABNI was despatched to Toronto. The second D.H.60T Tiger Moth, G-ABNJ, was delivered by Hubert Broad to Martlesham Heath on August 18 as E.5, and the general impression was favourable. In the opinion of test pilots, landing in a crosswind put the into wind wingtip perilously close to the ground and when taxying across uneven territory, any down-aileron could make contact with the surface. At de Havilland’s factory, a third D.H.60T, G-ABPH, was re-rigged to accept 40deg 30sec of dihedral on the lower wings only, an increase of 1deg 45sec over the setting of the top mainplanes, solving the problems and the type was cleared in September as a prospective military trainer. Adding sweep to the constant chord wing changed the relationship between the angle of the ribs and the airflow, resulting in a less efficient section. The company viewed the prospect of modifying their jigs with some alarm. The RAF 15 (modified) wing profile had been carefully chosen but the company decided to make no immediate change to the design of the wing and never did.
Eight aircraft were manufactured to the D.H.60T Tiger Moth specification. Following the delivery of G-ABNI to Canada, Hubert Broad flew G-ABNJ to Stockholm in December, where in appalling weather he demonstrated the open cockpit biplane over several days. It remained in Sweden, and was sold to the Flygvapen (Swedish air force) under the designation Sk 11. It was an important sale which led to further orders and licensed manufacture in Sweden. Tiger Moth G-ABPH was sold to de Havilland’s Portuguese agent and the remaining five aircraft were all sold to China.
The design department decided that sufficient major alterations had been embodied in the basic D.H.60 for a new Type Number to be applied to the Tiger Moth. This was not a hasty decision; a change usually signalled the need for a new Type Record to be established, a time consuming and expensive exercise. The next number was D.H.82, and interested parties were advised the price of the new aircraft was £1,045.
The Air Ministry awarded a contract for a prototype D.H.82, c/n 1733, against a unique specification, 15/31. Painted silver, it was flown by Hubert Broad under B Conditions as E.6 (later registered G-ABRC) on October 26, 1931. An order had already been placed for a further 35 aircraft to specification 23/31, essentially the same as the build standard of No 1733.
The D.H.82 Tiger Moth prototype, G-ABRC, first flown by Hubert Broad under B Conditions as 11 on October 26,1931. The aircraft survived until 1956 when it was broken up and burnt at Croydon. All Tiger Moths ordered by the Air Ministry were fitted with Handley Page automatic slats on delivery as part of the standard specification. The advertised cost of supplying and fitting slats early in 1932 was £18 with a further ten guineas required for a slot-locking device operable from the cockpit. An additional sum of £38 11s 6d was paid to Handley Page as a royalty on each set fitted.
The first six of the RAF’s D.H.82 Tiger Moths, K2567-K2572, were scheduled for delivery to No 3 Flying Training School (FTS) at Grantham on November 9, 1931, but owing to poor visibility the flight was postponed. Conditions improved sufficiently the following day and, leaving at 0945hr, the flight took 65min.
In December 1932 K2578 arrived at Martlesham Heath to begin flutter trials, with the result that mass balance weights were recommended for the ailerons. In February 1933, K2570 joined the programme to investigate the inverted envelope and K2583 began trials on November 13, which resulted in a recommendation for mass balancing of the rudder.
The improved Gipsy III engine was initially designated Gipsy IIIA, but the military connection was considered vital, and the name Gipsy Major was adopted for full production in 1932.
Unprecedented for aero-engines of the period, the Gipsy Major 1 was introduced into service with an overhaul life of 450hr, a 50 per cent increase over the Gipsy 1 of 1927. By July 1933, it had risen to 750 hr and by August 1937 to the magic 1,000, but that was not the end.
At the all-up weight of 1,8251b, maximum speeds were 109 m.p.h. at sea level reducing to 99 m.p.h. at 10,000ft, with a cruising speed of 93 m.p.h. and petrol consumption of six gallons per hour. With a fuel capacity of 18 gal, range was 279 miles. The new engine improved performance with a reduction by 17yd to achieve a take-off run of 156yd from a standing start to lift-off.
For an aircraft designed primarily for circuit training, a service ceiling of 13,600ft might have seemed fairly academic, or an absolute value of 18,100ft, but de Havilland’s main thrust early in 1933 was to promote the Tiger Moth as a multi-role military trainer in which bomb-aiming and photographic reconnaissance from such altitudes would have been normal operational practice.
The opportunity was taken in the summer of 1932 to refine the airframe, The front fuselage side frames were redesigned and the fabric-covered hoop-and-stringer arrangement of the rear top decking was replaced with a single spruce and ply construction. New compression legs from Dowty replaced rubber blocks with coil springs. Further changes were made to the top wings to introduce a standard maximum aerobatic weight of 1,7501b. Space for an extra gallon was designed into the centre section fuel tank by rounding out the leading edge. First to take advantage of all the improvements was c/n 3148, supplied to the Ministry of War in Madrid at the end of 1932.
The first Tiger Moth which incorporated all the airframe improvements and with a Gipsy Major engine was c/n 3175. Registered G-ACDA on February 6, 1933, this machine is acknowledged as the first definitive D.H.82A, one of a batch of ten for No 1 Elementary & Reserve Flying Training School (ERFTS).
Two, with twin floats supplied by Short Brothers, were built to Specification T.6/33 for RAF evaluation at Rochester and Felixstowe.
Aware of the need for economy in March 1934, the Air Ministry announced an order for 50 D.H.82A Tiger Moths, listed as Tiger Moth Mk IIs, to be delivered less engines to RAF Kenley between November 1934 and the following February, to Specification T.26/33. The aircraft were serialled K4242-K4291 and allocation was throughout the RAF, not as trainers, but to serve with squadrons and station flights, communications units, practice flights, and an army co-operation unit. Tiger Moth IIs had hoods which could be positioned over the rear cockpit for instrument flying instruction.
Others were supplied to the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the de Havilland School of Flying, Brooklands Aviation Ltd, Phillips and Powis School of Flying, Reid and Sigrist Ltd, Airwork Ltd and Scottish Aviation Ltd for the Elementary and Reserve Flying Schools which these companies operated under the RAF expansion scheme. 44 such schools were in operation in August 1939, although 20 of them closed when hostilities began.
The most radical of all modifications resulted in the first Tiger Moth Fighter, Persian serial 122, unveiled in October 1932. Located in the front cockpit, a 0.30in-calibre machine gun was capable of delivering 900 rounds per minute. It was never clear whether this was a fighter trainer or a true fighting aircraft but the aircraft was deployed around the Persian oilfields at Abadan.
The de Havilland company had resisted a substantial redesign of the Tiger Moth but by the end of 1934 found itself being shepherded in the wake of new RAF requirements. The most obvious was likely to be a more powerful engine, and the Gipsy Six was the natural candidate. Good take-off and climb performance was necessary while speed was of little consequence. The aircraft should have more spacious cockpits, facility for a manoeuvrable observer’s gun to the rear and a synchronised forward firing machine gun.
Early in January 1935, shortly before delivery of the 1,000th Gipsy Major engine, the de Havilland directors were divided on whether a bigger, all-purpose development was preferable to a modified version of the standard Tiger Moth, with the front fuselage adapted to provide more spacious cockpits and other refinements, while retaining the Gipsy Major. Hugh Buckingham reported from Sweden that the Tiger Moth had fallen into disfavour. Instructors believed it was too small and too easy to fly, and cramped cockpits were not compatible with a pilot in a winter flying suit.
Nikolaus von Eltz, de Havilland’s agent in Vienna, raised almost identical criticism. He had been advised by the Austrian air force that the D.H.82 was an old design: no longer were control cables run outside the fuselage and across a non-adjustable tailplane. The aircraft had no mainwheel brakes, nor a tailwheel, and was not very good at aerobatics. In April 1936, St Barbe admitted that had it not been for other major preoccupations the Tiger Moth would have been replaced some time previously. He considered it to be “on its last legs” and at the current price of £1,100, unlikely to attract orders. St Barbe cut the price to £850, a figure at which it could be produced at “no loss”. By the end of 1936, the company was considering a three year plan in which design capacity would be allocated to a replacement, probably from April 1937.
Orders continued in sufficient numbers to maintain the line, which was fortuitous as on May 27, 1938, the company was told that it would receive a contract from the Air Ministry for 400 Tiger Moths, the last to be delivered by September 30 the following year. At a required average monthly production rate of 25 aircraft, it would be difficult to fulfill the contract without assistance, so the Air Ministry agreed to allow de Havilland in Toronto to step in as a sub-contractor.
In the interim, the Air Ministry placed an order in May 1938 for 50 and in June confirmed their order for an additional 400. In September, they ordered another 300.
In 1939 the company prepared a scheme for a D.H.82B Tiger Moth incorporating remedies for all the major criticisms. The fuselage was widened by 4in and a larger fin and horn-balanced rudder were designed to provide inherent stability. Elevator trim tabs and horn balances were installed to improve aerodynamic fore-and-aft trim, replacing the previous crude but effective method of spring tensioning. An important airframe upgrade for the D.H.82B was a Hornet Moth style undercarriage with a wider track and the wheels set further forward to permit functional cable operated brakes, augmented by a tailwheel. An increased capacity fuel tank was planned plus an experimental powerplant, the Gipsy Major IIA which produced 160 b.h.p. at 2,500 r.p.m.
On 17 September 1939, just two weeks after war had been declared, TV Flight of the British Expeditionary Force Communications Squadron (later No. 81 Squadron) was despatched to France. Throughout the winter and the following spring, the unit’s Tiger Moths operated in northern France, providing communications facilities until the Dunkirk evacuation, when surviving aircraft were flown back to Britain.
Preparations were also made for the Tiger Moth to be used in an offensive role, to combat the threatened German invasion. Racks designed to carry eight 9kg bombs were fitted under the rear cockpit or, more suitably, beneath the wings. Although some 1,500 sets of racks were made and distributed to the Flying Schools, 350 Tiger Moths were fitted and none were used operationally. Rather earlier, in December 1939, six coastal patrol squadrons were formed, five of them equipped with Tiger Moths. However futile this may seem, it was considered that despite an inability to attack, the sound of any engine might deter a U-boat commander from running on the surface and thus reduce his capacity to attack shipping.
The ‘paraslasher’; a scythe-like blade fitted to a Tiger Moth and intended to cut parachutist’s canopies as they descended to earth. Flight tests proved the idea, but it was not officially adopted.
The Tiger Moth ‘human crop sprayer’ used a tank fitted in the front cockpit with powder dispensers located under the wings. The tank would be filled with ‘Paris Green’, an extremely poisonous insecticide. It was intended that low flying aircraft would dust the German troops as they waded ashore.
In the Far East a small number of Tiger Moths were converted for use as ambulance aircraft, the luggage locker lid being enlarged and a hinged lid cut into the rear fuselage decking, providing a compartment some 1.83m long which could accommodate one casualty.
The outbreak of war saw civil machines impressed for RAF communications and training duties, and larger orders were placed.
Little is known about the D.H.82B Tiger Moth, a designation often erroneously applied to the D.H.82 Queen Bee. One prototype was constructed, c/n 1989, and tested as E.11 in 1939. Improvements were considered worthwhile, but the more pressing need for high-volume production of a proven primary trainer overtook the need for refinement which brought the D.H.82B project to a premature end in 1940.
The DH82B Queen Bee was built using the wooden Gipsy Moth fuselage and Tiger Moth flying surfaces, a wind-driven generator to provide electrical power, and a larger-capacity fuel tank, and was used as radio-controlled drone for gunnery practice. The prototype was flown manually on 5 January 1935, and 380 were possibly built subsequently.
When war was declared on September 3, 1939, some 1,300 Tiger Moths had been built in eight years at Stag Lane and Hatfield, the latter delivering 660 in 1939 alone.
The Air Council promised in October 1939 that de Havilland was to receive a contract for 2,000 Tiger Moths, and reservedly agreed that 1,000 could be sub-contracted to Morris Motors. In order for Hatfield to concentrate on its new Mosquito project the company agreed to an immediate and total transfer of all Tiger Moth production to Morris Motors at its Cowley, Oxford, factory.
Some of Cowley’s first efforts in the form of T7013 were the subject of critical analysis at Hatfield at the beginning of April 1940, which resulted in 67 observations worthy of comment. The Cowley Works’ Superintendent had already caused some dismay among the de Havilland advance party in claiming that the assembly of an aircraft should be treated no differently from that of a motor vehicle. Perhaps the eventual smooth output of 3,210 Tiger Moths from Cowley vindicated this philosophy to some degree.
The first Cowley-built aircraft was T7011, transferred by road to Witney and test flown by Guy Tucker on May 15, 1940. A further 18 aircraft flew from Witney while the aerodrome at Cowley was being improved before Tucker flew T7029, the first from home ground, on June 27.
In a wartime trainer role the Tiger Moth equipped 28 Elementary Flying Training Schools in the UK, 25 in Canada (plus four Wireless Schools), 12 in Australia, four in Rhodesia (plus a Flying Instructors School), seven in South Africa, and two in India. After the war 22 Reserve Flying Schools and 18 University Air Squadrons flew Tiger Moths, most re-equipping with the de Havilland Chipmunk between 1950 and 1953.
With the military training machine in top gear, the requirement for new Tiger Moths diminished from February 1944 and numbers of complete but dismantled aircraft were delivered by road into “purgatory stores” in and around Oxford. The last Tiger Moth constructed at Cowley was PG746, taken on charge on July 24, 1944.
The first aircraft production at Prestwick was 50 DH Queen Bee target drones (unmanned Tiger Moths) assembled in 1943/4 by Scottish Aviation Ltd.
From June to October 1945, many stored aircraft were routed back to Cowley where they were customised, erected, test flown and delivered to RAF Maintenance Units at Aston Down, Colerne, Little Rissington and Llandow, before sale or gift-in-aid to overseas’ air forces.
Postwar, the RAF transferred many for civil and military use to Belgium, France and the Netherlands, but in the UK and elsewhere they became available in quantity on the civil market. In addition to obvious use as trainers, or for sport and pleasure, they found unexpected employment. Many gave valuable service in an agricultural duster/sprayer capacity, a role which proved to be of great importance to New Zealand.
After aerial topdressing trials in 1948, in the first year Tiger Moths dropped about 5080 tonnes / 3000 tons of phosphate fertiliser on about 19,200 hectares / 48,000 acres of New Zealand farmland.
A number were the subject of conversion schemes, usually to provide enclosed accommodation. The most ambitious was that carried out by the British company Jackaroo Aircraft Ltd, which involved widening the fuselage to seat four passengers in side-by-side pairs; open cockpit and enclosed cabin variants were included in the 19 Thruxton Jackaroo conversions completed by the company in the period 1957-9.
The Royal Air Force Museum
Tiger Moth NL985 had been in continuous military service from delivery in August 1944 until withdrawn from flying duties eight years later. Recategorised as an Instructional Airframe, 7015M, the aircraft was withdrawn to Colerne and there restored to operational configuration with a late wartime camouflage finish to become part of the Royal Air Force Exhibition Unit.
Allocated to the new RAF Museum at Hendon, NL985 was moved onto the site in 1972 to permit final building work to continue around them. Unfortunately vandals breached poor security at the site and set fire to the Tiger Moth, which was burned out.
The RAF, the world’s biggest user of the type, now had no Tiger Moth at all and turned to the Royal Navy for assistance. Tiger Moth T6296 had served with the RAF until December 1946 when it was transferred to the Admiralty and retired from flying activity at Yeovilton in September 1973. Painted in RAF brown and green camouflage, T6296 was presented to the Museum to fill the vacant space and in April 1990 was transferred to the Battle of Britain Hall.
Construction –
Mainplanes
Each plane consists of two heavy I-section spruce spars with leading and trailing edge and ribs of normal wood structure. The tip bends are of light alloy tubing. The planes are internally braced by swaged rod and high-tensile steel wire completing a structure which is unaffected by any slight shrinkage which might take place in the spar. The interplane struts are of spruce with steel end sockets and the drag bracings are duplicated.
Fuselage
Tubing to specification DTD 89A is used for round tubes in the construction of the fuselage, and DTD 113 for square tubes. Lower crossmembers terminating with fittings for root ends of the lower wings are especially constructed parts. The various stiffening plates at the welded joints are mild steel plate to specification S.3.
The front fuselage, which is parallel in plan, is built of two flat sides welded and drilled in a jig, forming easily- replaceable units which are bolted to the crossmembers.
The rear fuselage, from the rear of the pilot’s seat to the sternpost, is a completely rigid welded-up unit, jigbuilt. The four longerons are of square tube; struts, diagonals and crossmembers are of round tube. A small quantity of 1/4in-diameter by 22 s.w.g. steel tubing is also used as stays for the rear fuselage fairing formers.
The engine bay structure consists of two side frames, each made of three square tubes in triangular form, welded flat in a jig at the joints and assembled to the front fuselage by bolted fishplate. A stay tube braces the structure against side loads.
Empennage
The tail follows the normal de Havilland practice and is constructed of wood and fabric-covered. The control surfaces have trailing bends of light-alloy tubing. The tailplane is not adjustable in flight, but longitudinal trim is attained by an adjustable spring loading on the elevator circuit.
Undercarriage
The divided-axle undercarriage’s sprung legs use rubber- in-compression. The top ends are attached to the fuselage lower longeron and the other ends to the wheel ends of the cranked half-axles, which terminate at a tripod fitting under the fuselage. The structure is completed by a forward-raked stay tube from the lower end of the leg casing to the fuselage.
Controls
All control operating gear is housed in a control box running centrally along the cockpit floor, forming a unit which may be easily removed for periodic inspection. The controls in the front cockpit are detachable, the control columns by withdrawing a safety locking pin, and the rudder by removing the connecting rod.
The two control columns connect with a shaft carrying a lever which transmits side movement to the ailerons by cables, and fore-and-aft movement by link tubes to a cross-shaft behind the pilot’s seat, from which cables run to the elevator levers. Rudder cables run direct from the outer end of the rear rudder bar to the levers on the rudder.
Making the Tiger Abroad
Norway proved to be a good customer for de Havilland products and the government-owned aircraft factory at Kjeller, near Oslo, negotiated a licence in February 1932 for production of 17 D.H.82s, for which British-built Gipsy III engines were supplied from Stag Lane. All 17 aircraft were completed by the summer of 1933 and before delivery the Norwegian Government allocated funds for the construction of a further 20 aircraft to be built as D.H.82As, to be known as Woth Majors”. The Norwegian military was a strong proponent of the de Havilland philosophy of a “one-type trainer”. In addition to a machine-gun-equipped operational trainer, the winter exercises in 1934 unveiled D.H.82 No 129 in the role of bomber with a rack of four under-fuselage bombs. In 1940, German forces took control of all Norwegian military aircraft and at least one Tiger Moth was photographed at Kjeller in full Luftwaffe colours. It is believed that some confiscated Danish Tiger Moths, along with others abandoned in France by 81 Sqn in 1940, and four from the Austrian Air Force Air Training School at Parndorf, were flown in German markings until lack of spares grounded them,
Sweden The Swedish agent for de Havilland, Aero Material, placed an order with Stag Lane for delivery of a dozen D.H.82 Tiger Moths in June 1932, to be taken on Swedish air force charge as Type Sk 11. Three additional D.H.82s ordered by the Swedish military were built under licence by Aktiebolaget Svenska Jamvagsverkstadema (ASJIA) at Linkoping and delivered in March 1935. An order for ten D.H.82As, designated Sk 11A, was placed with ASJA for delivery in the summer of 1935, followed by ten more the following year. A number of improvements were designed by ASJA to cater for operations in all seasons. Pickup points for a float chassis were included as standard, and several aircraft were operated as seaplanes.
Portugal Through the efforts of the de Havilland agent in Portugal, Carlos Bleck, the Portuguese Government purchased 23 Tiger Moths in December 1931, followed by 21 D.H.82As in 1933 and 1934. A further eight aircraft were delivered at the beginning of 1938, consigned to Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronjutico (OGMA), the government aircraft factory at Alverca with whom de Havilland signed a licence agreement. Production at OGMA continued into the early 1940s eventually reaching a total of 91 aircraft.
Canada Following the arrival of D.H.60T Tiger Moth G-ABN1 in June 1931 it was not until August 1935 that de Havilland’s Canadian company took delivery of a second Tiger Moth from England, a fully developed D.H.82A, locally registered as CF-AVG. Officials at the company’s headquarters at Downsview were astonished to find that, like G-ABNI before it, ‘AVG had been built to European standards and a sliding canopy was soon fitted. In this configuration it was widely demonstrated and although the new aircraft met all the criteria laid down by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), there was no budget to buy a single one.
The lobbying of Ottawa and an offer to build the aircraft in Toronto resulted in the issue of specification C/11/36, and a contract for the supply of 28 Tiger Moths was signed on March 12, 1937. The order was for 27 new aircraft re-engineered locally to be known as type D.H.82A (Can) Tiger Moth. The demonstrator, CF-AVG, was included in the sale as the 28th aircraft, but was completely dismantled for use as a working pattern. The first new aircraft, RCAF 239, first flew on December 21, 1937, and was delivered to Trenton on January 18, 1938. de Havilland Aircraft of Canada prewar output included 227 D.H.82As. Having got production of the D.H.82A (Can) under way, the Downsview drawing office sought to add further refinements. A significant improvement was provided by new engine cowlings, the installation of cable-operated Bendix mainwheel brakes and a fully castoring tailwheel with a pneumatic tyre. Skis or floats could be fitted if required. A trim tab was set into the trailing edge of each elevator, capable of precision setting exercised from either cockpit. The improvements to the D.H.82A (Can) continued with the choice of the more powerful Gipsy Major 1C as standard engine and modifications to the canopy which would permit it to be jettisoned. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was announced on December 10, 1939, and in February 1940 de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd received a government order to supply 404 Tiger Moths embodying all the modifications and improvements which had been authorised under specification AP/3/39. The new type designation was to be D.H.82C Tiger Moth.
DH82C
The first aircraft built to the specification, C331, was flown by Bruce Douglas on March 12, 1940, and was handed over to the RCAF on April 10. The continuing supply of engines from Stag Lane assured orders for another 428 D.H.82Cs, which were delivered progressively from April to December 1941.
Until the submarine menace in the North Atlantic was finally neutralised the Canadian company realised how dangerous their engine supply situation could become. In the USA they sought, and found, an alternative powerplant – the D-4 Pirate engine designed and built by the Menasco Manufacturing Company of Los Angeles, California, physically similar and with a performance almost identical to the Gipsy Major IC. Air and groundcrew, however, needed to be aware that the propeller rotation was in the opposite direction from the Gipsy Major. The first installation (of a C-4 model) was made for test flying by Bruce Douglas to begin on June 30, 1940. Ten aircraft with Pirate engines ordered for delivery between May and June 1941 were re-designated as D.H.82C2s by de Havilland and as ‘Wenasco Moths” by the RCAF. A second batch which entered service as wireless trainers in the first half of 1941 were designated D.H.82C4 (Menasco Moth II) and appeared ideally suited to the task on account of the engine-driven generator system. The rear cockpit was stripped and fitted with obsolescent wireless equipment. The aircraft were overloaded and underpowered, and all were replaced as soon as practicable. A Gipsy Major-powered wireless trainer designated D.H.82C3 was proposed, but never progressed beyond initial planning.
Some 200 Tiger Moths manufactured under the Mutual Aid Program on behalf of the USA and scheduled for the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) as the PT-24 were never to wear Uncle Sam’s colours. The whole consignment was donated to the Air Training Plan and carried the standard yellow-and -black trainer colours and serials of the RCAF. A further 350 D.H.82C Tiger Moths were delivered to the RCAF commencing on March 3, 1942 From April 1940 until September 1942, the factory at Downsview maintained an average output of 51 Tiger Moths per month, reaching a peak of 75 per month at the end of 1941. In total, 1,549 airframes were completed in addition to the fuselages sent to Hatfield.
Australia The first Tiger Moth received at de Havilland’s works at Mascot Aerodrome near Sydney, VH-UTD, was not registered until May 1935, sold to the Newcastle Aero Club. Alan Murray Jones, the Australian company’s Managing Director, tried to persuade the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) to standardise basic training on the versatile D.H.82A, but, against price and delivery, the Avro 643 Cadet was chosen instead However, on November 21, 1938, the Australian Air Board placed an order for 20 Tiger Moths, all to be constructed at Mascot at a total cost of £33,660. The contract allowed fuselages to be imported from England and these were despatched from Hatfield between January and March 1939. Wings and empennage were built at Mascot, where Stag Lane-built engines were installed. Murray Jones made the first test flight of A17-1 from Mascot on May 8, 1939, and the aircraft was delivered into RAAF charge at Richmond eight days later.
An order for a further 350 Tiger Moths was placed on October 10, 1939. All were to be built locally using Gipsy Major engines manufactured in Australia under the terms of a licence held by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) and, in January 1940, an order for 500 engines was placed with General Motors (Holden’s) Ltd, a major shareholder in CAC. The first of 1,300 Holden’s-built engines were installed in RAAF Tiger Moths at Mascot in December 1940. Delivery of the first Tiger Moth airframe to be wholly constructed in Australia was made on June 21, 1940, when A17-25 was taken on charge at No 2 Air Depot at Richmond. That same month de Havilland was authorised to order raw materials for a further 300 airframes. By December 31, 1940, Mascot had delivered 208 aircraft and production had reached ten Tiger Moths per week. Holden’s was manufacturing engines at the rate of 40 per month. Tiger Moth production at Mascot was continuous from June 1940, reaching a peak of two aircraft per day by March 1941, until August 1942 when the line was halted. Eighteen aircraft originally scheduled for southern Africa were released from May 1942 for use by the USAAF in Australia pending delivery of their own communications types. In September 1944 the Mascot line was re-opened to provide a further 60 Tiger Moths at a cost of about £1,200 each. The new production was authorised in spite of an offer to supply Tiger Moths from the UK, where for some months already, Morris Motors had been delivering aircraft directly into store. By February 1945, 35 of the new Australian aircraft had been delivered, but the remainder of the order was cancelled on the grounds that the aircraft were simply not required.
New Zealand The Tiger Moth soon proved itself ideally suited to New Zealand’s training requirements, and with an established base at Hobsonville offering service and support, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) decided it would standardise all its primary training needs on the type. Alan Butler, chairman of the company, announced on February 7, 1939, that a de Havilland Associated Company was to be established in Wellington and on May 24 construction of a new workshop was commenced at Rongotai aerodrome. At the beginning of August the New Zealand Government ordered 100 Tiger Moths at a total cost of £155,000, the last aircraft to be delivered by February 1941. To initiate the contract it was intended to import batches of partially assembled kits from Hatfield. The first aircraft recognised as having a significant local content, Stage A in a pre-planned six-part programme, was NZ762, taken on charge on July 18, 1940. By the implementation of Stage F, it was intended for the whole aircraft to be a product of the Wellington factory. This happy state was met by NZ811 which was subject to a 30min test flight by Hugh Buckingham on April 19, 1941.
The provisioning programme began to run seriously behind schedule and in an effort to alleviate some of the shortfall, Australia agreed to supply component parts which were integrated into New Zealand production from March 1941, followed by the provision of 20 complete aircraft.
The first RNZAF aircraft consisted of twenty one impressed from eleven aero clubs, and three new aircraft about to be delivered to those civilian organisations. More British built machines were received before the de Havilland factory at Rongotai began production.
A further 36 Tiger Moths were ordered early in 1942 and had been delivered by November. In July 1943 another 36 were ordered but only 27 were delivered. A new contract was drawn up in February 1944 requiring 45 Tiger Moths to be delivered by December 3 of that year but only 18 were supplied. With a run-down in the training programme and a low attrition rate, the final 27 aircraft were cancelled.
This factory produced 345 Tiger Moths for the RNZAF until production ceased in the mid 1940s. In New Zealand 110 were assembled from UK produced parts, 181 were built entirely. A number of modifications, mostly British in origin, were made to the NZ built Tigers. One was an enclosed canopy which appeared in two versions, a sliding model in 1943 for the Air Training Corps and a sideways hinged model in 1944. A fitting for the attachment of a Mk. 1 bomb carrier was made in January 1942, a standard RAF camouflage added in April 1942 and a ten gallon auxiliary fuel system introduced in September 1942 giving a four hour endurance. The “Tiger Bomber” was flown with the pilot in the front cockpit to keep the centre of gravity within limits when the eight 20 or 251b bombs were in position. A drastic nose down pitch followed bomb release. Four Light Bomber squadrons (Nos 41, 42, 43, 44) were formed and one Fighter Bomber squadron (No. 51).
Post World War 2 disposals –
Southern Rhodesia
Canadian-built Fairchild Cornells were supplied to the Rhodesian Air Training Group (RATG) as Tiger Moth replacements from late 1943, and all Tigers with more than 2,000 airframe hours were scrapped; others were taken from open storage and ferried to South Africa.
When news spread that Tiger Moths had been declared surplus in Southern Rhodesia, enquiries began to flow through to the RATG, which on the advice of the Ministry of Aircraft Production in London suggested a minimum price of £500 each, as standing. Sealed offers for the first batch were opened on October 4, 1945, and resulted in 76 firm bids for 45 aircraft from 20 prospective clients, A similar exercise with a second batch of 37 aircraft resulted in 27 contracts. The 100 hand-picked Tiger Moths which arrived back in Rhodesia from South Africa at the end of 1946 were allocated to No 4 FTS at Heany and No 5 FTS at Thornhill. The second batch of 100 Tiger Moths was shipped from Cape Town into the care of the Hindustan Aircraft Company at Bangalore in India on behalf of the Indian Government.
De Havilland manufactured 8,811 DH 82 Tiger Moths between 1931 and 1945. Between 1939 and 1945, de Havilland built 4,005 Tiger Moths in the United Kingdom and 1,747 in Canada.
Disposals in Great Britain In early 1943, Commander Harold Perrin, Secretary of the Royal Aero Club, was advised that no Tiger Moths would be released in quantity until a new RAF trainer was available “In a year or so”. There was even a hint that training aircraft might be imported from the USA. Stocks of Tiger Moths in use or in store, it was admitted, as of March 1, 1945, amounted to 2,273.
In January 1946 the Air Ministry advised that 100 RAF Tiger Moths in store, all lightly damaged, were now available for disposal due to the contraction of repair facilities, The Royal Aero Club purchased all 100 aircraft for £5,000 and handled resale to member organisations.
The entry of de Havilland Canada’s DHC-1 Chipmunk into service released more than 80 Tiger Moths onto the British register in 1951, but there were teething troubles with the new type. Based at Barton, No 2 Reserve Flying School re-equipped with Chipmunks in January 1951 but had converted back to Tiger Moths by the following December, maintaining the type until disbandment in February 1953.
In 1953 RAF storage units were permitted to turn out their residual holdings of Tiger Moths and 380 aircraft were categorised as “Non-Effective Stock”. The majority were offered for sale, and the public was invited to visit Cosford, Hullavington and Lyneham on August 18, 1953, to deposit bids on 222 aircraft.
Australia
The Australian solution to its surplus aircraft situation was quite straightforward: if the aircraft was likely to qualify for a certificate of airworthiness it could be sold but if not, it was scrapped. The first 100 aircraft were offered for sale by public tender by the Commonwealth Disposals Commission in February 1945, and included a variety of types from Tiger Moths to flying boats. They decided that the maximum price for a Tiger should be £500, but administ and structure of the pricing policy was to be generous and flexible.
The last ten RAAF Tiger Moths were not disposed of until January 9, 1957. Each civilian purchaser had to acknowledge that sale of the aircraft was conditional on their immediate availability for military requisition in times of national emergency.
New Zealand
At the time of the Japanese surrender, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) had 232 Tiger Moths on strength. Peacetime RNZAF requirements indicated that about 180 could be declared surplus, and an initial list of 114 aircraft was provided for the War Assets Realisation Board. An additional 15 Tiger Moths were set aside for presentation to flying clubs as compensation for aircraft requisitioned at the beginning of the Second World War.
Surplus stock was offered for tender, with fixed reserve prices ranging from £30 to £330, but when the list closed on December 9, 1946, only 20 aircraft had been sold.
In October 1947 the Minister of Defence was prevailed upon to donate 42 Tiger Moths to the Royal New Zealand Aero Club. Although there was no purchase cost, £20 per aeroplane was charged for assembly and rigging ex-storage, plus 6d per mile air delivery by air force pilots.
The RNZAF was the last of the Commonwealth air forces to operate Tiger Moths in the primary training role. Nine aircraft were sold by tender in 1955 and the final 11 by August 1956.
South Africa
Eight Air Depots (ADs) had been established in South Africa by August 1941, of which No 4 AD at Lyttelton was assigned the reception of Tiger Moths and Miles Masters. Between January and October 1941, 250 new aircraft were imported through Cape Town and a further 120 were imported from Australia.
As a result of the wear of engine parts owing to hot, dry and dusty aerodrome surfaces, aircraft were fitted with air intake filters attached externally to the starboard side cowling. Also, a small wheel was fitted in place of the tailskid.
From February 1946, 100 aircraft were selected by the SAAF for postwar service with the Central Flying School (CIFS) at Dunnottar, from where several were sold in August 1948 at £4 10s each. Some disposed of as scrap later appeared on the civil register. The CFS sold its last aircraft to the SAAF Aero Club in June 1956.
Canada
From 1940 D.H.82C Tiger Moths were operational at 23 Canadian based Elementary Schools in addition to four Wireless Schools. Having taken delivery of 1,520 C models between April 1940 and September 1942, they were mostly replaced by June 1944 by Canadian-built Fairchild PT-26 Cornells.
In 1945 Canada’s War Assets Corporation took administrative charge of each aircraft: all Menasco engined Tiger Moths were scrapped except for a handful, as were others with high hours. The rest were sold off to aero clubs and often to new owners merely for the wheels and tyres and petrol in the tanks.
India
Several of the 208 new production Tiger Moths sent from Great Britain in RAF markings to India during 1943 and 1944 adopted civil registrations on arrival and were operated by flying clubs on behalf of the Government of India. Although some Tiger Moth spares were manufactured in India, plans for production of 239 new Tiger Moths in Bombay were not proceeded with.
Far from being a disposal centre, India became a net importer of Tiger Moths after the war, and there was much administrative tidying to arrange following Independence and Partition on August 15, 1947. Twenty civil aircraft which had been impressed and 41 ex-RAF aircraft were transferred to the Indian Air Force at the end of October.
Seven ex-RAF aircraft were transferred to the Pakistan Air Force in September 1947, and a year later six more were added, all second hand civil aircraft sourced in Great Britain by dealers W. S. Shackleton, an appropriate manner in which to comply with some diplomatic nicety.
DH 82 Engine: 1 x de Havilland Gipsy III, 120 hp Wingspan: 29 ft 4 in / 8.94 m Length: 23 ft 11 in / 7.29 m Height: 8 ft 9.5 in / 2.68 m Wing area: 239 sq.ft Empty weight: 10755 lb MAUW: 1825 lb Max speed: 109 mph / 175 kph Cruise speed: 85 mph Initial climb: 700 fpm Ceiling: 17.000 ft Range: 300 miles
DH82A Engine: Gipsy Major I, 130hp / 97 kW Fuel: Aviation Gasoline 87 Octane Prop: Fixed Pitch 6 ft (1.8 m) diameter Two blades made of laminated timber Wing span: 29 ft 8 in. / 8.94 m Length: 23ft 11in / 7.3m Height: 8 ft 9.5 in / 2.68 m Wing area: 239 sq.ft. / 22.2 sq. m Empty weight: 1,115 lb / 506 kg Maximum Takeoff weight: 1,770 lb / 803 kg Main Fuel Tank Capacity: 19 Imp Gal / 86 Lt / 23 USG Auxiliary Fuel Tank Capacity: 9 Imp Gal / 41 Lt / 11 USGal Maximum Speed: 95 kts / 109 mph / 176 km/h Cruise Speed: 80 kt / 92 mph / 148 km/h Max range: 240 nm. Service ceiling: 14,000 ft. Initial climb: 635 fpm Seats: 2
DH 82C Engine: 1 x de Havilland Gipsy Major IC, 108kW / 145 hp Wingspan: 8.94 m / 29 ft 4 in Length: 7.29 m / 23 ft 11 in Height: 2.69 m / 8 ft 10 in Wing area: 22.2 sq.m / 239 sq.ft Empty weight: 1200 lb MAUW: 1825 lb Max speed: 172 km/h / 107 mph Cruise speed: 145 km/h / 90 mph Initial climb: 750 fpm Ceiling: 4450 m / 14,600 ft Range: 443 km / 275 miles
On 24 August 1931 de Havilland had flown the only example of the de Havilland D.H.81 Swallow Moth, a low wing open-cockpit two-seater powered by a 60 kW (80hp) Gipsy IV engine. With production capacity filled by orders for various models of the Moth the project was discontinued, to be resurrected some years later when advantage could be taken of some structural techniques used in the Comet and Albatross, as the prototype D.H.94 Moth Minor.
